Originally posted on May 12, 2015, by cruisingrunner
A great song by Toad the Wet Sprocket, and words I’m trying to continually remind myself of. About a week ago when we were still in New Zealand, our friends on the sailboat Novae decided to take an immediate weather window and were going to leave the next day. When Helen told me their plans over the phone, my immediate, spontaneous, impromptu response was, “well, you guys have to come over for dinner tonight, then!” Those that know me know that I am neither spontaneous nor impromptu, and even after living this cruising lifestyle for over two years I am still out of my comfort zone if I don’t have at least 24 hours notice when we are having guests over. That’s just me. But this was my genuine response to Helen’s news, because they were leaving, and who knows when we’ll see them again. Sure, they are headed to Fiji, and sure we’ll probably only be a week behind them, so odds are we’ll be with them again soon enough. Except maybe we won’t. You just never know out here.
Back in September after spending about a year and a half together, we said, “see you later,” to our buddy boat, Lady Carolina. They were heading to Fiji, and we were staying in Tonga, but we’d meet up again to spend cyclone season in New Zealand. Except we didn’t. For a variety of reasons, they decided to stay in Fiji for cyclone season. While that was disappointing, at the time we thought, “no big deal, we’ll meet up again in Fiji later.” Except, now we won’t. The timing of their Fiji visa expirations and our departure from New Zealand means we are going to totally miss each other, and now they are in Pago Pago, American Samoa and from there on their way home. We tried to work up a deal to meet in Tonga, but that didn’t pan out, and now it’s pretty certain we won’t cross paths again. I regret the loss of their companionship, but I also regret the fact that I clearly took them for granted when we were together. They were always there. But now they’re not.
So, I treat good-byes with a little more seriousness these days. I even hugged my friend Briana not once but TWICE when leaving Opua (and those who know me know I’m not a hugger). And then I got totally crazy and even hugged my friend Sarah, who would be leaving New Zealand within a day of us, and we’d meet up with in Minerva Reef. OK, to be honest at first, I tried to get out of the hug, but then I remembered that I don’t even remember if I hugged Carolina good-bye or not. I will not take these things for granted.
Gresham Family Exodus 