you say goodbye and i say hello

Hello, Hello...

Life is a continuous series of hellos and goodbyes. My first hellos were to my parents. My first goodbyes were to the doctors and nurses in the ICU of my hospital (I was 5 weeks pre-mature). Future hellos included my younger brother, relatives, friends and most recently my co-workers. Future goodbyes included cousins, my paternal grandmother and most recently, Georgia Tech. Last night I said my first goodbye before Togo.

I know it seems wierd to be so poignant about saying goodbye, particularly since saying goodbye is an action I am very familiar with. Whenever I left England for Saudia Arabia or India for the US, I said goodbyes to many people. However for me, saying goodbye today takes on many different meanings. Not only am I saying goodbye to friends and family with whom I have shared several fond memories from college or high shool, but saying goodbye today is really me saying goodbye to a life of "knowns". I know Atlanta. I know Georgia Tech. I know my family and friends. I don't know Togo. Saying goodbye today is me realizing that my life is never going to be the same.

I am getting ready to embark on a journey of unknowns and what do people do when they are outside their comfort zone? They cling to the familiar. Yet Togo will be unlike anything I have ever experienced. I try to rationalize to myself that being in Togo can't be very different from being in Bhogavi, the village where my father grew up in rural Karnataka. After all, I survived Bhogavi, so I can certainly survive Togo. However, deep inside I know that Togo will NOT be like India. Even in my dad's village, regardless of the conditions, I was only there for no more than a few weeks before I returned to a sheltered life of computers and running water in Bangalore. Whereas now I am about to move to a foreign country for two years! Big difference.

Another reason why saying goodbye to my family and friends is so poignant is that they are who I am closest to at this moment in time. When I say goodbye to them, I don't know if I will ever say hello to them again. We are all moving in so many different directions, medical school, graduate school, jobs all over the country, that it's difficult to forsee where we all will be in three years when I return. Some of my friends will be married. Some of them will even have kids! I hope we all keep in touch but time changes the relationships we form with people; some will grow weaker, but some also will grow stronger. I am saying goodbye to you now in hopes that someday I will say hello again.

Anyways, last night I said my first goodbye to Corrie. It was wonderful to spend time with her and see her after so long. We pretty much spent the evening catching up and reminiscing about school, greek life, spring break and my 21st birthday over our favorite calamari at The Globe. It was a bittersweet evening but I knew it had to come. I will miss Corrie terribly but hopefully we will say hello again in the future. I can't believe I pretty much only have 3 1/2 weeks left to say goodbye to people. Starting May 16th I am out of the country (to say goodbye to Michelle in Costa Rica) and after that its time for me to spend some quality time with my family before I depart. So yea, I know that although I will have many more goodbyes to say in the upcoming weeks, I will also have a plethura of hellos to say as well. Hello to my fellow Peace Corps volunteers. Hello to the Peace Corps staff. Hello Togo.

6 weeks! eek!