the goodbye book....

I could hear her in the back seat of the van,

the sweet notes of her voice reaching right into my heart.

She was reading from a book of letters

that her first grade class had written to her this week.

"I will miss you soooo much!"

"You are the best friend I have ever had in my whole life!"

"Have fun with your new friends, but don't forget about us!"

"Please ask your Dad not to move. I will miss you too much!"

As she read each one,

I choked back tears that threatened to reveal my concern for

each of my kids whenever a move is upon us.

My mind went back to an afternoon in late May

at Annapolis Area Christian School in Maryland

when my mom dried the tears of her own little girl

who was clutching a very similar book of goodbye letters.

We were moving from Maryland to Pensacola, Florida

and I was just finishing the 5th grade.

I remember all those final hugs

and all those goodbyes to friends who I thought

I would never be able to live without.

I've said goodbye so many times since then

and my oldest three kids have many goodbye books

of their own stashed away in a keepsake box.

But this is Bren's first precious collection of sweet sentiments

from her grade school friends putting into words what a special little girl she is

and how much she will be missed.

This will be her first taste of goodbye to all of the little girls

who have filled up her weekday afternoons,

and her first introduction to learning to let go and move on but not forget.

We probably won't see any tears from her

because she's a tough little one when it comes to that,

but we'll see it in other ways.

In the quiet way she'll stare out the window,

not saying anything but

thinking, thinking, thinking....

I will recognize the worry in her eyes.

What will her new school be like?

Will they like her?

Will she like them?

Will she have a nice teacher?

Uncertainty will surely haunt her when she lets it.

Like I said though,

She is one tough cookie

and a very adaptable, friendly child.

She'll do great and she'll make friends on day one,

I'm sure of it.

The hardest part is the leaving and the arriving.

Everything else is filling.

Our journey begins in the morning

with cross country adventure blogging starting over the weekend.

First stop,

Spokane!!

We'll spend two nights with my friend Linda

and then off to Yellowstone with Linda and her family

for two days of exploring

before we point ourselves east on 70

and go until we smell the old bay seasoning!