Every Time I Have Said Goodbye
It's different each time I say goodbye. I have taken them on trips just to see their favorite place or do their favorite things. I have had their friends over to share in the things they love - ice cream, jerky, you name it. I have sat quietly with them, hand on their head or chest. Talked to them, even though I knew they couldn't hear. I have held them after it's over, sometimes cursing the powers that be over things I didn't understand to make that day come to pass. Sometimes just caressing and gently stroking them, knowing that it is only for me now that I do that. I do it because I need that. I need that connection. I need to feel that connection at least one more time. Soon, that memory will be the only connection I have to reach out to feel them again. I have learned that, even though I have said goodbye, they are not gone. Not truly gone. They are only as far as my memory allows them to be. Aside from that though, they come t