Don't know why you say goodbye

Of all the words in the English language, goodbye is probably my least favorite. I much prefer saying hello. Maybe the French have it right when they say “Au revoir.” It certainly sound more hopeful to say “until we meet again.”

For the past six weeks, by parish church has been blessed by the presence of Josephine, a seminarian from England. Today she leaves for home. I do hope she will remember us with love, as we most surely will remember her. I wanted to write something here about what her time with us has meant to me but, my first thought was “how can you thank someone was has taken you from crayons to perfume.” (Extra points for all of you who knew that was from the title song of the motion picture “To Sir With Love”). She really has done so much in just a short time! She is such a good listener too. Oh and a good cook. So what do you say?

Well I don’t know the answer, but I do know that I have no intention of saying goodbye to Josephine either. Even if she is not here with me - with all of us week after week, she is still in our hearts. Perhaps that old Beatles song says it best: I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.