Is it the End or Is it the Beginning??

Today was a day for goodbyes.

Saying goodbye is not always easy.  There are times when it comes naturally, like when it is an annoying family member going back home or to an acquaintance whom you no longer have anything in common.

Today I did not say goodbye to just anyone, but I said goodbye to two women who have been present in my life until now.  Each goodbye was different and each one took a piece of my heart.

There are people who come into our lives because we have relationships with their loved ones, this is the case with Georgie.  Georgie was the great aunt of my friend, Princess.  The dynamic that Princess and Georgie has was unique and often would leave me wondering just how deep the bonds of family run.

Georgie lived a long and good life.  Born in the early 1900's, she lived through wars, depressions, major world events, and was an important figure in the Princess's life.  My earliest memory of Georgie was when Kate would call her and have Georgie bring us breakfast the morning after a sleep over.  It was always the same thing, two headlights, two half moons, and a box of Cocoa Krispies, with a half gallon of milk from Super Duper.  When she dropped it off she would pull into the driveway and honk her horn until Princess came outside.  They would exchange food for the promise to call Georgie "later".  Princess did not always live up to her end of the bargain. 

Georgie was the last "adult" our unique family had left.  Now it is up to us to keep each other safe and to annoy the shit out of each other.  I just hope we are as good at it as we need to be.

You never know how much a person adds to your life until it is no longer an issue.  This is true about my friend, Sara. 

Sara came to me through work, but our relationship was far stronger as friends than as co workers.  After a series of some life altering events it was decided that Sara would move closer to our nation's capital.  Personally, I think it is because of her long time love affair of all things politics, but something else tells me that it might be something of a carnal nature too. 

So many things I will miss about Sara.  I will miss her neurotic behavior and her paranoid behavior too.  I will miss doom and gloom, the way she interacts with strangers, ability to process mathematics in her head, the trail of mess she leaves behind her, the funny voices she makes when she is happy or is reading.  I will always think of her when I hear the words learning curve, coffee, dark chocolate, "I spilled my coffee", prolific, Y chromosome, and politics.  I will think of bright yellow raincoats and frizzy hair.  But the one thing that will always come to mind is friend.

I will try to remember how lucky I am to have had so many wonderful influences in my life and I will also try to remember to cherish each moment, because tomorrow is not a guarantee and holding off is like giving up.