All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye

'I love you more than songs can say
But I can't keep running after yesterday
When all we ever do is say goodbye
All we ever do is say goodbye'
- John Mayer

It sometimes feels like that. Like all we ever do its say goodbye. Living in community here on Iona is very much like that. During the season we say goodbyes each Wednesday to volunteers and each Friday to guests. We say goodbye to residents throughout the year, some who have been here for up to three years. We say goodbye to the seasons, and lately to the daylight. We say goodbye to the ferry, our only means of 'escape', at 6.30pm every evening. We say goodbye to the seasonal workers from the pub and hotels at this time of year. We say goodbye on Saturday to one resident. We say goodbye to all of our volunteers on Tuesday. We say goodbye to another resident the week after. We say goodbye to two other residents the week after that. We say goodbye to another resident the week after that. Goodbye... goodbye... goodbye. 'All we ever do is say goodbye'. It feel so much more true at this time of year than it ever has done before. There is a massive staff change over at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.

But, you know what all of those goodbyes mean? Hello. Nice to meet you. Good to see you again. To say goodbye to something or someone, you must have known them first. Surely knowing them can take over the pain of saying goodbye? Knowing them and becoming part of their lives, and them part of your life. To say a goodbye, you must have had a hello.

What's the most important? It's only human to find goodbyes hard, but they are only hard because you care, you love, you share life. Don't stop caring, loving and sharing life just so you don't have to say goodbye anymore. Life would mean an awful lot less. Nobody would be important to you. Say hello, and allow that hello to continue for as long as you need it to.

Say hello and, when you say goodbye, be thankful for the hello.

Care, love and share.