"Bye!"

"Bye!"

That sweet little girl shouted it across the (small) security checkpoint at the airport, waving her whole arm wildly as she called.  I waved back, and smiled, knowing that she was too far away to see the sadness cross my face.  I pulled myself together, dismissed my emotions, walked to the parking garage and continued on with my day.

Taking time to reflect now, I'm sad that my friends and their adorable children are moving halfway across the country to go to seminary.  I could give you a list of reasons why I shouldn't really be sad, why the logical part of my brain tells my heart that these emotions are useless.  But that would be defeating the purpose of the exercise, which is to acknowledge that I felt something, and that it was valid.  I have spent most of my adult life offering people permission to be themselves, to feel what they feel, to stop listening to all of the "shoulds."  And yet, I have not offered myself the same permission, and doing so now is one of the most difficult things for me.  

So, there.  Today, the simple word "bye" broke my heart a little.  I'm sad.