There’s something very difficult about saying goodbye. I’ve always been terrible at it, and I always put it off as long as absolutely possible. At some point, you just can’t avoid it any longer, though. I just wish I didn’t get so emotional about it. I end up crying every year, it seems, and this year’s gonna be worse, I think. I’m waiting till Wednesday to leave so I can tie up a bunch of loose ends with NACURH, Personnel Services, and other stuff.

It didn’t help that I went to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial today. I didn’t even live here when the bombing happened, but there’s something tangible and powerful about the place. It made me really think about how fragile life is, and how quickly and indiscriminately it can end. What did give me hope was to read the Survivor’s Wall, and see far more than 168 names on it. Life does go on, and the human spirit rises above the acts of a few desperate men.