Goodbye Jacal!
I didn’t realize how many people I had made friends with in my site until I started to say my goodbyes.
Weird.
This morning I left my house on a mission (not the fantasy one in my head where I go next door to the mechanic shop with a baseball bat to smash in their speakers), this was a real mission.
I had to say goodbye to people, buy some ropa tipica, clean my house and pack my bags.
So here I am, at 9:30PM with HEAVY eyelids and even heavier limbs, wondering HOW in the hell I did everything…and WHY on earth I left it to the last minute.
As for the how: I had about 14 cups of coffee today.
As for the why…I think it could have something to do with the fact that I don’t really like saying goodbye.
Apart from that one time when I was a kid in grade school and my friend moved away, I’m not much of a crier when it comes to saying, “nice to meet you…see you maybe never.”
I tend to stammer uncomfortably and throw in a, “well…maybe I’ll be back; yeah, we’ll probably see each other soon…” when in reality…the chances of that happening are pretty slim. I know it and they know it.
Only till just now, upon arriving home from my rounds am I feeling that familiar twinge of sadness. I have been so excited to get out of here that I had forgotten about all of the things that I would miss.
I will miss the old woman in the market who always says, “hasta cuando te miro!” (it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!) even if it’s only really been a day since I saw her last.
I will miss feeling like a “big deal.” As much as I have hated the attention that I sometimes attract, I will definitely miss being asked what I am doing and having people actually listen to the answer.
I will miss the weather, It was incredible out today.
I will miss talking about nothing with strangers.
I will miss the crazy woman in town who wears high heels in the park and sprays people with a hose and yells “I hate pigs!” if they litter…it’s colorful people like this that make me able to laugh at the stuff that gets me down.
I will miss people asking me if I’ve eaten, not listening to my answer and then giving me food anyways.
I will miss the simplicity of life. If all I do in one day is my laundry then I’ve accomplished something major.
I have 9 days left in Guatemala as of today. Yes, we’re in the single-digits now.
When I got to my site I was thinking two years was going to be a really long time and now that I’m about to leave I’m wondering where all the time went.
I am ready to go home but it’s definitely bitter-sweet.
There are things that I won’t miss…but I feel we should avoid that worm-hole. We may end up somewhere weird.
More to come…
Must sleep. Dead pocket.
LOVE LOVE LOVE!
