Susan's 2013 Farewell Tour

The word "good by" English is very unsatisfying. It implies one "good by" and then I am gone. That is not what is I am experiencing. I am saying "good by" every day to something. "Good by" to my house.  "Good by" to my car.  "Good by" to my work. It all became too much with the "good by's". I decided to change my mindset from saying good by to saying farewell. It seems more cooperative; there is more back and forth. I am leaving and I wish you well. I love this word.

So this week I tried to say Farewell to my friend Jenny. She has been my writing partner for 13 years and we shared each others' stories in the deepest way. We decided to have our farewell in San Francisco, at the Cafe Samovar, and make it a special day. We usually meet at her house because her house is wheel chair accessible. Our Farewell lunch was to be a big outing for us.
The day in San Francisco was beautiful. It was warm, and sunny and the sky was a special blue.

I waited and waited, but no Jenny. Here she is.

I went inside gave a cursory look, and went back outside to wait. My back was to the entrance as I was enjoying the view. I ordered lunch, thought of Jenny, hoped she was ok.i didn't have her cell number and she didn't have mine. I emailed her and left a message on her home phone. I had a lovely lunch alone and realized I felt perfectly fine eating alone. A first for me.

I later found out that Jenny was inside the restaurant waiting for me while I was outside waiting for her. Neither one of us wanted to say good by so we shared the same space and said "fare thee well" to one another.