So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh

"I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again,
Of the place that I lived since way back when,
It's the month of May, and you're going away,

So long, it's been good to know yuh

This dusty old dust is a-chokin my song,
And I got to be driftin' along.

So long, it's been good to know yuh."

These are the varied lyrics of the Woody Guthrie song that we sang when graduating from my alma mater, Buckingham and Browne and Nichols. I sometimes reminisce how singing these words made the whole affair light hearted and easier to say farewell to friends and teachers. Saying goodbye is never an easy thing and we have begun to bid some Govs seniors well, even though they mostly respond, "I'll be back! I'm not leaving right NOW!" But having lived a few decades more, we know that you might not be. We hope you will, but know you may not. And a great life lesson is knowing how to say goodbye, even though you think you cannot. I must confess, I am terrible at it. People generally think that I hang up on them whenever I am on the phone because I refuse to utter the 8 letters. Goodbye. 

I am comfortable with, "see ya", "ciao", and "Take care". I am learning though, and seeing you all walk in and out the library door this week has been like watching a sad film strip in slow motion. And when you do stop to chat I cannot help to quote Mother Theresa or Shakespeare or Rumi. I want to give you any last bit of reference help to life that I can, including any shortcuts I know to wisdom and happiness! Forgive me, I have watched you grow and I cannot help but wonder how you will continue to do so, outside of the Byfield biosphere, away from our nurturing eyes and ears. Just remember that if you get lost along the way, that time spent in the wilderness is not lost. That is when you find authenticity and beauty within your self.  I leave you with F. Scott Fitzgerald, for the efficacy of his words will always outdo my own...

So long, it really has been GOOD to know you!