Sarah and Valerie started crying as we hopped on the moto to
leave our friends. I don’t know why
other people crying makes me want to cry, but it does. Leaving is so hard and usually a little
awkward – the goodbyes that turn into something else you wanted to say, to more
hugs goodbye and finally someone saying that we need to leave if we want to get
home at a decent time (in our case before dark) . And now that we’ve said goodbye to our new,
but trusted friends, the Shuberts, the sense of actually leaving a place we’ve
called home for the last 10 months has finally set in. There is not much else you can do but cry.
It’s funny that the thing that has brought us so much joy
and made us commit to longer than a 2 week mission trip, that is wanting to
have a larger impact and deeper relationships, is also causing us the most pain
while thinking about and getting ready to leave. But as they say, “it’s better to love and
lose, than to never love at all” or something like that. That is exactly what has happened in the
fairly short time while we’ve been here.
Relationships have been built, friends have been made, volunteers and
students have come and gone, and fantastic memories have been remembered. We love the students that are here like they
are our own family, the extra time that I’m able to spend with my daughters and
wife, the food – ok maybe not the food as much, but the rice and beans aren’t
too bad if you add hot sauce – and the beautiful surroundings that we have on
campus. It’s actually difficult sometimes
to remember what life was like in the States, or what life will be like when we
return, aside from more ice cream. We do
know there will be more of that!
The next 2 and a half weeks will be hard as we pack up and
train our replacements. There are a
couple things that do cheer me up when I think of leaving; I know I am
returning to friends and family and I know that I will come back to Honduras
soon as well. I think that I can stay busy enough to keep my mind off the
inevitability of leaving everyone and everything here. In the moments that I think of leaving I may
tear up…there’s not much else you can do.
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