"Sweating" from our Eyes

Darwin "getting" Ace, with help from his accomplice Scooter. :)

This week has been a little rough.

The most recent bad luck is a bout with conjunctivitus (aka "pink eye"). Let me just say that Pink Eye is winning. Ick. Also, a bolt found a home in our tire. We were happy it was a free repair, but it was pretty inconvenient just the same. In other bad news, Michael's laptop crashed in the middle of his last two trainings he has to complete before residency begins in a week, and during the next week we will be driving across the country so it may be a teensy bit challenging for him to finish them up. This has the makings of a country song written all over it.

Did I mention we're moving across the country?

Eeek.

Worse than all of these little inconeniences is the whole month full of goodbyes that we have had. It started at graduation, leaving all our California friends again. Last week we had to leave Seattle and our sweet niece, nephews, brother and sister, whose house has been our home away from apartment for the past couple years. When we hugged the kids and sent them off to school before the morning we left, almost-four-year-old Scooter told his big sister, "Your eyes are red." A moment or two later, he was surprised to notice tears. "Are you crying?" He surveyed the room and found that she wasn't the only one. "Why is everybody crying?" he demanded. As the kids hitched their ride to school, he came to me. "Aunt Mita, why are you crying?"

"Because I love you."

"Aunt Mita is crying because she loves me!" he reported to his Mommy enthusiastically. He seemed satisfied with this answer, and I suspect he was fishing for the same one from Uncle Michael. "Uncle Michael, why are you crying?"

"Sometimes I have sweat that comes out my eyes."

This weekend we said "Adios" to brothers and sisters and nephews and parents. We have a few goodbyes left and they are heart-wrenching. And I can't even shed a tear because if I do, I will cry conjunctivitus germs onto the keyboard and infect more people than just my poor mom! (Sorry, Mom! I didn't know I had it on the camping trip.)

This week has been kind of hard.

I think it might be okay to take a moment, not for a "pity party," but rather for a moment of reflection on WHY it is so hard to leave. When I think of the answer to that, I still ache, but I feel comfort knowing that the reason it is difficult is because of the love we share with others, and that is good to know that that love is there, even if the way we know it is through a sad and challenging experience. Michael always says the best kind of life is living with your heart, though it makes for the most painful goodbyes. We wouldn't have it any other way and are so grateful for the relationships we cherish with so many friends and family.