Bittersweet Bon Voyage and Delicious Ambiguity

Today is my last day in DC for a while. Perhaps a long while.

I have had a great trip catching up with good friends and filling myself with good food and drink. I even managed to spend some time at the National Gallery of Art for a while last week. I got back to Sonoma for a full cheese board and two bottles of wine with the Hula Ladies and City Mouse. I went to another Bobapalooza at the Boss Lady and her fabulous husband's house where I partied with the rest of the gang. We played Bocce Ball and ate and drank and pulled whimsies from a pail. I caught up with Sweet Thang at Jaleo and enjoyed some fabulous Sangria. I had dinner at Cafe 8 with the Hula Ladies and we could hardly contain ourselves as we enjoyed their appetizer plate.

But today I say good-bye again.

And this is a tough one because I have to say good-bye to the World Traveler as she is off to the Philippines in a couple of months for two years with the Peace Corps. I am thrilled for her adventure (and admittedly a little jealous) and excited she is following a dream she has had for some time. I admire her courage and ability to say good-bye to her life as she knows it - selling or giving away most of her possessions and leaving creature comforts and friends in DC - to help people literally half way around the world. I'm not really sure I could do it.

I know we'll be in touch as often as possible. She has started a blog and as long as she can find a cyber-cafe she can keep all of her friends and family up-to-date. I imagine we'll become re-acquainted with snail mail, too.

But it won't be the same as seeing her (and staying with her) every time I visit this place.

Yes, the two years will fly by and I have grand plans to visit her around the globe. Yet there is a distinct possibility that this World Traveler will find a new adventure abroad after her two year stint and will permanently reside far far away.

So today's good-bye is bittersweet. It involves unknowing, and time, and space (a LOT of space) as well as adventure, joy, and living in the moment.

One of our friends gave her this quote over the weekend: “Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity…” – Gilda Radner

Well said, Gilda.

So with that delicious ambiguity in mind - the bitter and the sweet - I say Bon Voyage, World Traveler! You will be dearly missed here and you will be deeply welcomed in your new home.