Until We Meet Again

Saying goodbye is never easy.

Especially when it’s your child boarding a plane and heading halfway around the world.

Today, our son leaves to return to Korea, and as much as we are grateful for the time we had together, there is that familiar heaviness that comes with watching someone you love leave. The house will feel a little quieter. The dinner table will have one less place filled. We will find ourselves looking at the calendar, already wondering when we will see him again.

Travel has a funny way of teaching us about goodbyes. We leave places we love and people we love, knowing that the distance between us doesn’t lessen what they mean to us. Sometimes, in fact, it reminds us just how much they mean.

These visits become precious because they are not ordinary. They are gathered around family meals, conversations that stretch late into the evening, laughter, coffee, little moments that might otherwise go unnoticed. We tuck them away, knowing they will carry us until the next time.

So today, our hearts are both full and a little heavy.

Full from having our son home. Heavy because we will miss him terribly.

But underneath the sadness is something else, a quiet excitement. Goodbye doesn’t mean the story ends. It simply means we have another hello to look forward to.

Until we meet again, we will carry these moments with us, count the days when we need to, and remind ourselves that distance is only geography.

Love travels much farther than that.

Somewhere between New Brunswick and Korea, there is a family connected by a whole lot of love, a few time zones, and the promise of our next visit. Maybe next time we will be the ones leaving the airport in Korea after a reunion.

Lovingly yours, Ms. Mindful Traveller