Bitter-sweet Farewells

I understand that many of you may not be as close to your family as I am to mine, so you may not think you relate to this essay, but I guarantee you have had an experience that relates to this. If you have ever felt heartache because you have to say good-bye to someone you love for a period of time, you have had an experience that relates to this essay. Good-byes are both bad and good even though they may sometimes seem very sad. Farewells are a bitter-sweet experience.

I went to Orlando, Florida with my family this past week. It was an amazing experience! My brother has been gone on a mission for two years, so my family has not been all together during that time. We had a great time with my whole entire family which includes: my two sisters, brother, two brothers-in-law, niece, nephew, mom, and dad. It was a great bonding time with a lot of time spent together especially since the majority of the days were spent in Walt Disney World, which is very family-friendly! The days flew by like minutes, and soon enough, it was our last day together. Those few hours of our last day, bolted past like seconds, we arrived at the airport, and too soon, it was time to say our good-byes. One of my sisters lives in New York City, so I do not know when I will see her next. Many tears were shed because we knew that we would not see her for a long time, and we did not want to say good-bye. This was the moment my whole family was dreading during our vacation. The farewell. I won’t go into detail about the farewell, but I am sure you have all felt the feeling I felt at that moment.

My head was pumping, my mind was clouded. My eyes were swollen because of the waterfalls that had poured out of them. My heart was pounding and felt like it was made of glass and was just dropped on concrete: Shattered. I felt the agonizing pain of not knowing when I would see one of my very best friends again: my sister. If you have ever felt any of these things or had to say good-bye to someone you love, you can empathize with me and feel my heartache.

At the same time, farewells are a sweet thing too. The reason you have to experience the heartache of good-byes, is because you got to spend time with someone you loved in the first place. If you didn’t say good-bye, you wouldn’t have even gotten to see your loved-one.

Farewells are a bitter-sweet experience, and I am grateful for them. They are sweet because you got to see someone you love in the first place, but they are bitter because it is so heartbreaking to have to say good-bye to someone you love. I am so glad that I have the opportunity to say good-bye to my sister, because it was so fun seeing her and being with her for a few days.