Finding the good in goodbyes is harder than it sounds. Have you ever thought about why goodbye is called what it is and what it actually means? A definition of the word according to Google is: "A word used to express good wishes when parting or at the end of a conversation." This is the black and white, cookie cutter meaning of the word, but we know there is more to saying goodbye than just the words. It is easy to focus on the bye part, and we forget about the good. However, the good can always be found.

If you haven’t already noticed, I have given a lot of thought to this lately. I have been going through major life changes, and with that (usually) comes saying goodbye a time or two. Are they final goodbyes? I never really know… No one does. But that is where the good becomes even more important. You have to find the good when you say goodbye in order to really really accept it and more importantly, appreciate it. It is something I have never really taken for granted and that is my hope for everyone who reads this.

If you say a goodbye and you know it is going to be final, what you do to make sure you really appreciate that moment is putting the good in goodbye. If you are just saying "see you later", but you look back one last time to take a picture in your mind of that person or that place and that moment, that is putting the good in goodbye. When you are forced to say goodbye to certain people or things in your life, but you think about why that is and what good will come from it, THAT is putting the good in goodbye. If life pulls the rug out from underneath you and you end up not getting to say goodbye, and you reminisce on all the “last times,” searching for just one that will suffice as a good goodbye, that is putting the good in goodbye.

I can sit here and preach about how you shouldn’t take life for granted and how you never know what tomorrow will bring (all sayings we are sick of hearing), but I am not trying to do that at all. I am asking you to stop and ask yourself if you really give proper goodbyes. Not for the benefit of the person you are saying goodbye to, but for your own benefit. And I will let you in on a secret: it’s not about what you say when you say goodbye; it is about what you think before and after you do so. That is what is going to put an end the chapter and allow you to move on without regret.

{Dedicated to Olomouc, CZ}