The Roommate and the longest goodbye ever

So while saying goodbye to The Old Friend last night as she was in the airport terminal, I was reminded of the long goodbye I had given to The Roommate before he left for study abroad this winter.  It wasn't so much that it was a long goodbye, but that it there was never one, but many. 

This brings to mind an old philosophy I had that there was no such thing as goodbye, but only until next time.  Meaning that we never never see people again, that we will eventually meet up again, whether you are leaving for work and you say goodbye to your wife or saying goodbye to a temp on their last day of work.  I always felt that you would see that person at least one more time or that we would all meet up again someday in some sort of afterlife and that there was no true goodbye.  But the problem with this was that there was no other good way of saying goodbye than: goodbye.  So I have been forced to drop my little ideology and say goodbye to people, but I still think to my self every time I say it that it isn't really goodbye, but until next time.

And now that I'm done being sidetracked: the long goodbye.  It started with the last day of finals, when I said good bye to him as he and The Shrink went back up to his apartment to keep packing.  

That would have been it, but then he went home with The Shrink on his way back to his home.  She (The Shrink) lives the town over from me.  He was supposed to leave, but then there was a massive storm and I hiked through the snow to watch a movie and bake cookies with my friend The Cookies, which is completely unrelated, but an awesome story in and of itself.  

But he was trapped!  And he went shopping with me and The Shrink to get Christmas presents for my mom.  There I said my last goodbye to The Shrink, who I wouldn't see again before she left for the semester abroad and goodbye to The Roommate, for the second, but not last time.  We both knew it wasn't going to be the last time because I was going to visit him in a couple of weeks.

Then I went to visit and had a great time and said goodbye again.  But this turned out to not be the last time either!

He then came to visit me at university one last time before he left for his semester abroad and this is where the goodbyes got tricky.  I had a party for him (and because we were all back on campus) and he came and left quickly.  The next day The Brewmiester and I were going to visit The Baker because she was having a birthday party.  So The Roommate and I said goodbye one last time then before I left.

So, there was not just one goodbye, but many over the course of winter break until I finally didn't see him again until he comes back this spring/summer to do research at university.