We had several stops on our way to Japan, and finally got settled in an apartment above SEND's office. After several months of searching, we found an apartment near our language school and prepared to move. Once again, we took Sam around again and said it was time to say goodbye. He was a real pro by this time. "Bye-bye TV! Bye-bye table! Bye-bye lights! Bye-bye sink!" It was almost like a game. But as he started saying goodbye to really special things, his demeanor changed. "Bye-bye Sam's room. Bye-bye blue chair. Bye-bye police car chopsticks." I looked and saw a little tear welling up in the corner of his eye. He knew that as fun as it is to say all the words you know with a "bye-bye" in front, he wasn't going to be seeing these things again. I wiped away his tear, and my own as well.
We've been in our apartment for a while now, and don't have plans of moving anytime soon. But harder than the place goodbyes are the people goodbyes. In a couple weeks we will say goodbye to some good friends who are leaving for a year-long home assignment in the States. We say goodbye to classmates at the end of every semester, to short-termers who come and go. This immigrant life is so transient. It seems like as soon as you make a friend you find out that your paths will separate. And I haven't even touched on the aspect of living apart from so many of our close friends and family members, or the number of funerals we've been to in the past few years. We pray for strength to dive in with all we have and love the people around us well, for we know that our time with them is a gift.