I hate goodbyes. I try to avoid the feeling of knowing that I will not see someone or something for a prolonged period of time. One of the things I loved the most when I was starting to learn Italian and French was that in those languages, you don’t use the words addio nor adieu. Both mean bye, respectively. Instead, they use the equivalent of phrases such as “Until next time”. Bye is just a word they say when they are sure they won’t see the person ever again and it’s usually related to someone passing away.

I’m like the French and the Italian people. I don’t say adiós. So now that I am moving away to Europe for a year, I have been saying until later to people, places, moments, and routines that have been a part of my life. Is in these moments when we realize what we have because we know everything will change. Is in these moments when we cherish what we used to consider normal, the usual. Late chats and laughs with the family, coffee in the mornings that I didn’t have to brew myself, looking up my siblings around the house because I haven’t seen them for a long time (when that long time has been actually 4 hours), the unstable but warm weather of my Island, the familiarity of a place I haven’t been far from, for more than 15 days.

As a fan of The Office, naturally one of my favorite quotes of the show is:

It’s so true. The present is the “good old days” so enjoy it now. It’s the details, the small things we are so used to having around that make our life complete. Sometimes moving on means parting ways with those. But more often than not, it doesn’t mean that they won’t happen ever again. While I am cherishing and absorbing and creating memories of every single aspect of my current life before it changes, I am also acknowledging that it is not the end. Some people believe in life after death, and that may be mostly because as humans it is difficult to deal with the reality of not seeing a loved one once they are gone. Life after dead means saying “until later” and not “bye”. I understand now.

So since I am moving away, I won’t say goodbye to anyone nor anything. I’ll casually say “see you later”, walk on and head into a new adventure. It’s not the end. It’s a beginning and I’ll be back.