A Final Farewell

Samantha and G; our final night in NYOur last night in New York was spent in Chinatown at a Cantonese restaurant. During dinner, many gifts were given and even more pictures were taken. I counted heads; everyone was finally there. For a moment, I began to feel nostalgic. The first day we met our friends, they were tired and confused, split up into sections arriving sporadically at the airport. Over the past couple of weeks we had really gotten to know each other and I was beginning to think I was sorry to see them go so soon. I made friends with two of the girls from my way finding team and I found myself surprised by how close we had become. 

G was older than me, but very trusting and sincere.  She and I struck a friendship after multiple travel mishaps including a trip through the metro splitting from the group for her early resignation one day in D.C.. I felt closest to G in New York one night standing under the canopy of the Holiday Inn Express. She was smoking a cigarette and rattling on about New York City's urbanized Chinese Americans. I felt I saw her in her element, a sea of yellow blurring behind her and thick smoke leaving her mouth as she spoke.  She had beautifully long hair and slender eyes, and seemed always to be wrapped up in her own mysterious thoughts. 

Then there was Samantha, warm and loving.  She was certainly the nurturer of the group, much like a mother.  She was constantly accommodating for someone's discomfort, including mine, reaching for a chair when I was leaning or handing me some form of snack when I looked famished.  She even compelled me to complain a little if I was ever hot or tired.  Her kindness gave her a special appearance, much more than that of just a pretty girl. Her curiosity and concern for others naturally made me seek her out as a strong link to the entire group from Beijing.  I will always remember her by her diplomacy and meek disposition. 

Back at the hotel, I went down to the girls' room the night before their early morning flight back to China. I gave them the jewelry I had been wearing since their day of arrival, hoping to offer a personal memento representing how much our friendship meant to me. I knew that they were sensitive girls and it was getting late after lots of conversation. Goodbyes were postponed to the early morning after making my many promises to show up in the lobby.

The only morning I slept in, I woke to find the sun in my face, a blinking phone on the night stand and my heart pounding in panic. I had missed our farewell.  After all the promises I made, and efforts toward building these friendships, I asked myself repeatedly how I could let this happen.  It wasn't until later that I had thought, with some resolve, that there was no need for a final farewell at all. Friendships are not bound to a mass of land or a moment in time.  They are forever.