goodbyes & growing older

Growing older makes it hard to say goodbye.

hands (photo by my sister Jessica)

They are two years old and three years old.  And it’s only hard to say goodbye because they don’t understand time or why people have to live so far away or how long it is until Christmas.

He and I are getting oh-so-close to thirty.  And it’s awfully hard to say goodbye because we watch the younger ones growing older and the older ones growing older and we know that each goodbye might be the last—for any of us.

heads (photo by my sister Jessica)

They grow older each time I see them, there on either side of eighty.  And it’s awfully hard to say goodbye because their steps are a little slower and their hearing a little harder, while age has given them wisdom and His nearness has given them patience.

Growing older makes it so hard to say goodbye.  Because each moment is as normal as it has always been.  And yet each moment is so precious because it might never come again.

hearts (photo by me)

{linking up with Five-Minute Friday and Just Write because sometimes Fridays become Tuesdays quite quickly and because the two go so well together that I just wrote—for just about five minutes—on the prompt “growing”…}

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11 Comments

  1. I could very much relate to this as we got to see our adopted grandma, Pearl, last week and as she is going on 89, I sometimes wonder if that was the last time we’ll see her. She is in very good health but only the Lord knows her days. Nothing is guaranteed. I treasure all the moments we’ve had together. Esp. now that she is many miles away from us again.

  2. Hi Gretchen,
    I don’t know if you remember me or not. I am Bethany Davis, we met several years ago. I was a member of the Purry Kitten Club years back. I am friends with some dear friends of your’s in the Hillsboro area. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE your post about it being harder to say goodby and getting older. The photos are soooooooooo moving. I love the pics of the older hands holding the younger hands. Yes, it does get harder to say goodby as you get older. I need to take more photos of my Grandma with her great-grandchildren because it will be all too soon that she’ll be running along Jordan’s shores.
    Thanks again for the sweet post.
    In Christ,
    Bethany

  3. I understand this post…every time I see my grandparents (which is sadly all too rare as they’re far away), I think of how it could be the last time this side of Heaven. And every time I remember that Timmy never got to meet my maternal Grandma, it makes me sad.

  4. Oh, this made me cry – what gorgeous photos and even more gorgeous words.

    It’s ironic – I wrote today about missing my Dad, who died in June quite suddenly, how I miss the beauty of those everyday moments. How beautiful that you see that beauty, write about it, absorb it, hold it close to your chest with gratitude for how special and fleeting they are. It’s a gift to be able to treasure such things, and those memories will be gifts you will carry in your heart forever, even after they are gone.

    Thank you for your words.

    -Ellie