Goodbyes are in the air

"I say hello, you say goodbye"...

There seems to be a smell of goodbyes in the air. Some of our fellow volunteers or people that shared parts of our lives left or are leaving. It always seems to become an emotional moment for me.

This Monday I was driving Jonas, another Belgian leaving, to the airport. He's leaving after having spend six weeks here, researching kwaito music in the Kwano township. We were listening to my iPod on the car's radio. In the spirit of the moment, I was flipping through my playlists, and put on the "goodbyes" one. There all songs that remind me of special People & Places, that I started some time ago, and have been adding special songs to ever since. As you can guess, it usually doesn't make me jump for joy ;-). And then I came to thinking:"how much does it say about my life really that actually have a specific playlist for goodbyes"?

Goodbyes are tough on me, and getting harder and harder. To me, it feels as if this past year and a half has been filled with temporary, but intens friendships, over so soon, often too soon. And somehow I feel like my friendships haven't gone as far as they could have. Mixed feelings really, also because of one particular incident.

These past two years, my life has continually changed every three to six months, which is a short period. Halfway through, you're already having to focus on what is next, to plan ahead. I started counting and noticed that, with our next trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia, and then going up to Cape Town to see a friend of mine, I have about two to three weeks left in Plett. Gone in the blink of an eye really. Now you see me, now you don't...