Goodbyes

“A good portion of my life has been spent learning to say goodbye. That could be the lesson of any life: giving all things the welcome they deserve, and wishing them farewell with the proper gratitude. From my first move as a child up to this day, I have said a series of goodbyes, some larger, some smaller. In this succession of farewells, whose intervals have been the very measure of my life, I can identify my transformations. Before, when I returned to my native country, I felt that I was saying goodbye to everyone. Now, I don’t really know why, I feel like everyone else is saying goodbye to me. Maybe it’s the effect of having gotten used to leaving. One loses the fear of having one’s luggage dispersed, but also the certainty of owning its contents. Airports are the scenes of wrenching separations. And I realize that I have changed, so to speak, from the protagonist of my own goodbyes to a witness of other people’s. The ways of leaving change as much as those who leave.”

– Andrés Neuman, How to Travel Without Seeing