Au Revoir Nancy

Saying goodbye is always difficult, especially when there is uncertainty in regards to the hello again.

I personally hate saying goodbye. The finality in the moments leading up to the end is always full of heaviness and sadness. There isn’t really any way to prepare for the final embrace (almost always full of tears) that is a necessary evil. The end of one adventure is leading up to the start of the next but, the melancholy of leaving lingers around as the bitter in bittersweet just as during the end of the first, the sweetness of the unknown in the next adventure makes it more difficult. Each goodbye needs a moment of mourning for the life that had been known because, regardless of the intentions, life will never be exactly the same as before.

Saying goodbye to Nancy (again) is something that I wasn’t really prepared for. I knew before coming how lovely the city and how welcoming the people were but I was unprepared for the sense of attachement I would feel again. It wasn’t easier to say goodbye the second time. For the past 2 days, I've been trying to come up with adequate words that evoke the emotions that I am feeling and I've been failing miserably. I know that I will always hold Nancy near and dear to my heart and it will be a place that will bring a smile to my face due to all of the beautiful places and the lovely people there. 

Without the  support of my host family, this year would have been much more difficult and probably, more lonely. I was unbelievably lucky in that my assistantship was in the same city that my Rotary Exchange was in. Their unconditional love for me is something that I could never have dreamed of deserving. Sunday lunches at theirs, numerous Rotary outings and visits to the Opera brought more French into my life and gave me moments of being a part of a family during this year abroad where the ability to be in contact with my family was difficult. A very special moment this year was Christmas in which they invited me and my sister into their home and had Christmas dinner with them. They have always been so warm and welcoming and have tried to make me feel at home with them. I'm blessed beyond belief in their love and cherish them dearly. Honestly, I can't imagine my life without my host parents or my host sister.

This time around, an added beloved entity that I was forced to say goodbye to was the community of assistants that I had lived with. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt such a strong bond of understanding and love as I have with this group of crazy, wonderful, unpredictably predictable group of young anglophones. We had a wonderful year full of shenanigans and I wouldn't change a thing. Saying goodbye was difficult but I know that I'll see them again.

Goodbye sounds so final. Bye bye is too cheerful and informal. Cheerio is too pompous while C ya later makes me think only of alligators.  Jennifer Out is too weird, Peace and love is a bit too hippie and hasta la vista is wrong.

 Nancy, I'll leave you with this; Au Revoir.