hello...good-bye

This evening I had the sorrowful moment of saying good-bye to a friend. She is moving half a world away and we may well never see one another again. In today's electronic world, it's never really good-bye, except our friendship will change. For a moment, I didn't want to go to her farewell dinner, because - childishly - if I don't say "good-bye" then she can't really leave. Right?

I grew up moving so often, that I was forever saying good-bye. To friends. To pets. To schools. To teams. To dreams. I wonder if it's easier to be the one leaving or the one being left? So many places that I have lived, so many people have touched my life. All my life, I have remembered them off and on, for many of them have shaped a part of who I am today.

Through social media, I have reconnected with many of these friends. Through messages, tweets, blogs, and photos, I know who they are now. It doesn't even feel strange, because I've carried them with me all along. I never really left those friends. Never said good-bye completely. We share memories, experiences based on where and when we were in that moment in time, and shared bits and pieces of one another. I still get to share my life with a childhood neighborhood playmate, talk about my family with the first boy I ever kissed, and exchange recipes with someone whose locker was next to mine in high school. We've become the strangest global family I could ever imagine. And, yet, before Facebook or My Space, or even AOL chirped out "you've got mail," I thought about them and recalled their words and laughter over the decades.

In college I wrote a paper about whether technology was bringing us closer together globally or just reducing personal connections. My answer today is the same as it was then - both. We're connected to loved ones all over the world, but sometimes we slight those right in front of our noses, choosing to engage in electronic communication instead of face-to-face. Conversation is almost a lost art with many people. Language is ever changing...but people don't, and we have the same basic needs as always. I think we are only now experiencing electronic media that allows for true connections. I can't wait to see what the next ten years bring.

So, as Carol sets her sights on the East, I can look forward to sharing her adventures from afar, and enjoying the pieces of herself that she has left behind. We share a love of cats, a love of books, and a love of kids. Her enthusiasm for life is an inspiration.

I only hope that somewhere, I have changed some people as well.