Carrie left her apartment last week and is one step away from starting her new job and new life in Morocco (the pic is the view from her new apartment in Casablanca), taking her one step closer to her dream of living in Paris.
Here’s what she had to say upon closing the door on her Atlanta life:
Dear apartment,
In your walls I have celebrated, I have mourned, I have laughed harder than I ever have and cried harder than I ever have. You have housed my longings, my pining for a different life. You have facilitated my yearning for a better life. You are beautiful and well constructed. Everyone that comes over comments on how they love your exposed brick. I have housed my sister’s baby shower in you and spent countless evenings on your patio with my favorite people. I have tasted the best wine I have ever had in your kitchen. I have baked the best cake I have ever made in your oven. I have hosted parties and housed heartbroken friends in your walls. I have grown into a woman with an apartment that has a guest bedroom. It is in your walls I made the decision to leave my country. It is in your walls I prepared to resign from my job, on your couch that I purchased my airline ticket. And finally in your walls that i sat and analyzed my new apartment in a far away land.Through all of the heartbreak. through all of the love and betrayal that has passed through these walls in my time here…you have always, unequivocally felt like mine. My home, my beautiful midtown apartment.
You will always be an apartment that I’ll drive by when I am in town. I know it now, I will not forget you. I will probably romanticize you and long for you and forget why I left you. As I grow and change I will mourn the woman I have become in the walls. She will remain in my mind’s eye, forever, the girl that lived in this apartment.
It is now on your cold kitchen tile that I type this final goodbye. All of my things are cleared out of your walls. I will inhabit different walls now and live different bests and worsts. Thank you for having me.
Do you say goodbyes or do you just leave, your eyes firmly fixed on the future?
12 Responses to “How do you say goodbye?”
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I had to say quite a few when I left South Africa, having been there for over a year. Strangely enough, it wasn’t that hard saying goodbye to people, my colleagues, my girlfriend, my good friends.
I think it’s because I know I’m on the right path and continuing my journey, rather than something ‘disappearing’ and me missing out. If you have to say goodbyes, make sure there is a positive reason for doing so.
Cheers,
Glen
Glen Allsopp´s last blog post..2 Simple Paths to Unhappiness
I think goodbyes are very important. How can you move on unless you’ve had proper closure?
Janet Barclay´s last blog post..The Benefits of Blogging
OK… This and a number of very similar posts in my blogs and it’s starting to feel like a thwacking from the universe!
We have to fully make peace with the present and where we are before we can move on to the next now.
Joely Black (@TheCharmQuark on Twitter)´s last blog post..When my heart suddenly started speaking
[...] How Do You Say Goodbye? Alex Fayle [...]
I’m with Janet - I need the closure.
I hate goodbyes and tend to find myself in the midst of dramatic chaos - but at the end of it, it’s almost like a funeral - a definitely closure of the past, a reflection on what has happened, and movement into the future.
Andy Hayes´s last blog post..Scotland’s Waterfall Walk
@Glen
When my parents moved out of the home they’d been in for 35 years, people asked them if they were sad, and they’d answer: “How could we be? We had a great time here and we’re going because we choose to, to a place we love.”
@Janet
I agree completely with you, although I try to avoid the word closure because it’s such a loaded word (thank you Orpah and Hollywood).
@Joely
Exactly! If you’re not okay with the past/present, you’re going to repeat it until you’ve found peace.
@Andy
I too hate goodbyes. I prefer to say “see you later” to everything….
Alex, I didn’t know “closure” was a loaded word. Where can I read about that? In my MBTI training I learned that “Js need closure” which is something I can definitely relate to.
Janet Barclay´s last blog post..Do You Need a Coach?
I think it might be loaded for me. I always hear about relationships needing closure in the Hollywood/TV usually by women who are written as victim-y type people.
Now I see what you’re saying. To me it’s a much more neutral word, as in “Judging people like order, organization and think sequentially. They like to have things planned and settled. Judging people seek closure.” (from http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/judging-perceiving/)
Janet Barclay´s last blog post..Valentine’s Day Blogging Ideas
I have moved so many times in my life I stopped counting - goodbyes are kind of fun now, actually.
I feel at home finally in the house I live in now. I think I will be the one who says goodbye to this house because I don’t think my honey will ever be able to sell it and move….although it is our whole retirement package.
Patricia´s last blog post..I Request the Honor of your Comments
@Janet
I guess because I’m a “P” I find the word silly. Once the decision is made in the heart–wooo off we go! (BTW, being a balanced E/INFP I love that the combined titles create “Advocate Dreamer” - what a perfect description of me!)
@Patricia
I too get excited by new things and find myself getting itchy for something new now. The trick for me is to find the exciting in the day-to-day, rather than dropping everything and trying something totally new.
Once a decision is made, I also want to get going with it. I have a terrible time with “transition.” I want to either do things “the way we’ve always done it” OR “this new way” - if I know it’s going to change, let’s change it NOW!
Janet Barclay´s last blog post..Plant the Seeds of Greatness