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Friday, June 27, 2014

C'est Le Weekend: Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

In my youth, I was a huge fan of Marc Almond's.
(That's the title of one of his songs in the blog title).
In the Netherlands, we have a TV-show (inevitably cheesy and tear-worthy) called 'Hello Goodbye', presented by a very sympathetic man, accosting people at the airport either waiting for someone or seeing them off.
'Hello' and 'Goodbye' are the first words one learns when studying a foreign language.
It lies at the basis of all human communication.

But it's also true of our existence in general.
My life seems to be a continuous conveyer belt of Hellos and Goodbyes.


My mother is leaving this weekend.
On Sunday night, she's flying back to South Africa.  
We did wonderful things while she was here, but not nearly enough.
But what makes a goodbye to an exquisitely beloved parent so hard, is knowing that there might not be a next time.  
I found that out the last time when my dad was here.
We (thankfully) didn't know then what was going to happen.

Last night, we ate Kashmiri Lamb and Prawns at our favourite Indian restaurant in Breda.
We drove around the city to the moated castle, on to our old house, the new station.
And Tuesday we were back at Kasteel de Haar for a guided tour in the castle and we got lost in the maze in the gardens.
This weekend will see us packing and shipping stuff to South Africa.
Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow so we can do something nice like go to the beach, all 6 of us.
And then Sunday will arrive.

Deep sigh.


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