I came across this quote the other day, and it really resonated with me:
You see, I have had to deal with ‘leaving people behind’ from a very early age.
Even though I have no recollection of it, I took my first flight when I was 4 weeks old, from London to Lisbon, where my father was posted.
And that was just the beginning of it.
My father’s family is Portuguese. My mother’s is English. So even from the word go my family was split between two different countries.
I grew up with my grandparents and cousins living in (at least) two different countries. We lived in another.
And we kept changing.
Changing schools.
Changing house.
Changing country.
Changing towns.
Making new friends.
Starting over.
And over.
So I had to get used to change.
I had to get used to saying goodbye. To new beginnings.
Which didn’t mean I liked or enjoyed it. It didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. It didn’t mean I didn’t get sad. It didn’t mean that I didn’t get teary eyed.
It’s just the way it was.
It’s part of how I grew up.
It’s part of what I know how to do.
But what it does mean is that my heart is scattered around the world, in different places, with different people.
And still I am whole.
Even though there are parts of me everywhere.
It’s easier nowadays: we can speak with our loved ones on Skype and send text messages for free.
When I was a child we would all stand in line near the phone and speak one after the other, timed by my father looking at his watch and giving us a signal when our turn was up (he was a naval officer, after all).
But even though it is easier, when I leave, part of me still stays behind. With people whom I know that when we meet again it will be just as if we had seen each other the day before.
That really is just how it is with my special people.
And it’s those people who keep a little part of my heart with them in the meantime. Those special ones.
No need to name you. You know who you are. My special ones.
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This really resonates with me … even though I have not moved for a few years now I can completely understand the emotion and the feeling this blog transmits. At the same time though I would not change anything of my past with regards to the moving and the changing .. I think it has helped me be adaptive and see beyond the ‘little’ things we can sometimes get bogged down in.
Thank you for this amazing blog 🙂
xx