The Good-Bye Girl

My life, in many ways, has been a series of hellos and good-byes. The hellos are fun. The good-byes not so much. Today was a big good-bye. My wonderful friends from Toronto spent the week with us and today they went home and we had to say good-bye to this very special family. That was hard. But they were able to carry a little piece of us with them. Not only in their hearts, but in their car. They took Sadik with them back to Toronto. There are no photos of this good-bye. Too hard. Too sad. A moment not to be remembered for me. I am glad, however, to share the joy of this cat that came as a gift from God for me when I was struggling with saying good-bye to Brazil. Now he is a gift for them.
The night before he left I caught Sadik looking out the window as he so loved to do and snapped a photo of him. Yesterday he spent the day close to me and on my lap most of the day, almost like he knew something was up. He didn't, of course, but I did and certainly he picked up on my emotions.
I love this picture because it's such a great good-bye picture - looking at him happy and with his back turned to me. That's the way I want him to be - turning to the new family and away from me. Ultimately that's what I want for my friends too. That's a hard thing to want.
So here we look at Sadik for the last time. Say good-bye to my friend.