Hello, Goodbye

Don't write your name on sand,
   waves will wash it away.
Don't write your name in the sky,
    winds may blow it away.
Write your name in the heart of a friend,
    for there it will stay.  

I hope that some day in your life while you are living and kicking you have the opportunity to say "Good bye" and "Hello Again" to the people that you love.  I  hope you have the chance to explore those places that are new and secret and then to return again to the home of your heart.

It has been incredibly uplifting, grounding, and sustaining, this moving between our two homes.  For we have discovered that it is possible for our hearts to hold more than one place and for our lives to be connected to more than one home.

When we made the decision to move down to Australia, we went through a seemingly endless stream of "goodbyes" with friends and family.  After awhile, all of the farewells felt surreal...like playacting.  Surely it wasn't real...  But, still, Ciao.

We then went to another country, another continent, another hemisphere and commenced with the "hellos" and "Good Days".  With no expectations, how could we have known that our friendships in this year would come to mean so much to us?  Brisbane is, also, truly the home of our hearts.

But, goodbye.

And this week, as we meet again with our friends and family back home for this brief visit, I don't mind telling you what a sublime experience it is to be welcomed again into the hearts of our friends.  

We know we will soon utter those words of departing and then arrival again on the turning wheel of our lives.  And who can know where we will roll as we live our lives.  But we no longer fear the leaving for we know that we bring our home with us, we never truly leave it.

If you didn't know it already, it is friends and family that make our lives worth living.  They somehow ground us and elevate us.  Nurture those who you live for, for they are your roots and they are your wings.  And your heart, which you didn't know the power of, grows and holds still more people, fully and true. 

HELLO to readers in St. Louis, Brisbane, and all online friends
And, although she will likely not read this,
this song sends you LOVE:  to You Know Who You Are