19 June 2012

Goodbyes: the thorn in the expat's heart of hearts

Being an expat means that you have to be prepared to say goodbye to anyone you've met, sometimes with the small luxury of knowing months in advance. Other times, moves happen very swiftly. A contract can be signed and moving plans drawn in a matter of days, which really are just too few hours piled on top of one another far too quickly.

With one friend falling into the latter category and leaving Holland today, one in the former, and several others in the preliminary stages of planning their families' next adventures, I am now realizing the importance of the photos I'm taking. They're documenting a time in our family's life when nothing is permanent. Julian perceptibly changes from day to day, his baby pals now will most likely be spread across the world when he's school-aged, and the time I have left with this incredible group of women will certainly be altered by those moving away or cut short if we find ourselves packing. So, I fight my instinct to miss what has gone and fear what could be tomorrow, and instead, just enjoy what is here, now.

Goodbye, friend; hello, present.

xxx,
j

p.s. We're off to Lithuania and Latvia today... I don't plan on touching a computer once the entire time; the blog's on autopilot until I'm back with photos in a couple weeks!