Goodbye is too "the end"

Today, as I was getting ready for work, I was donning "Funeral appropriate" attire. Apparently, I don't often dress up as much as I did today, and my son asked me why I was dressing up so pretty. I told him I was going to a funeral to say goodbye to a friend. He said "Goodbye is too 'the-end' - just say 'see you later' instead."

Whoa. He's 8.

But he was right. At this funeral, a few hundred of my closest friends from high school gathered, along with their families and parents from in town, to say "see you later" to our friend, Nick. We watched as his loving, pregnant wife fell completely apart as she saw her husband lowered into his grave. We watched as his mother's heart broke into a million pieces. His nieces and nephews just stared at him in his casket, trying to comprehend what was happening.

And there I sat, with friends - some of whom I've seen in the thirteen years since graduation - most of whom I connect with on facebook - but all of whom I adore. I sat next to the boy that I had a KILLER crush on in high school, and he held my hand and we consoled each other - as mature, married, but equally mourning adults. I also sat with a dear friend whom I shared a summer with in Spain, who also has two children and lives not far from me. We occasionally get together - but today made us realize that occasionally needs to be more often. As I embraced one of my dearest male friends from "back in the day," he whispered in my ear through his tears, "Are we really this old? Is this even possible?" and buried his head in my shoulder. I hugged another friend, who not too many years ago laid her brother to rest after a tragic car accident, and as she stared at Nick's casket, I could see the memories of Troy being brought to the surface of her heart. Face after face came through the doors, every one ended in tearful embrace.

As I sat and looked at all of these people, I thought "We're all just grown up versions of ourselves." We all look older, are more mature, look BETTER than we did as "kids" - and as our spouses disappeared into the shadows to allow us to mourn together, we realized how very, VERY blessed we are. We have these people from our past who helped to shape our lives into the spouses, parents and children that we are today. And we owe it to each other to be thankful - to be reflective - to be sad - to be happy - to be...yes, to just be.

How blessed am I to have had a high school experience that I look upon with fond memories. To have had these people whom I consider friends. Losing Nick has been far from easy, but perhaps his passing was a way for all of us to remember we need each other - not just in times like this, but always. As we said "see you later" to Nick and each other, we cried. We cried as he was lowered into the ground, we cried thinking what life will be like for his child without him, and we cried, hoping that it won't be years or other sad circumstances that bring us together again.