Last to leave

For the last 9 years I have been living in a school setting, four and half for college and four and a half for my MDiv (I know that sounds long but it is 84 hours). One neat thing about this setting is meeting Christians from all over the country and often the world. The bad thing about it is that at some point everyone leaves. And while I revel in the folks that are going to stay in Memphis like me and the friends I have made who are not associated to my school there is still the problem of saying goodbye.

I am not very good at it, of course who is? I have a special goodbye I have to do today and I have been putting it off as long as I can. Mostly because I don't know what to say to the friend who has been here almost as long as I have and has helped carry me through many hard times. The thing that really sucks is that as much as I like to think that I will probably see them again it will never be what it is now again. That was the hard thing about graduating from Harding Undergrad and that is the hard thing here.

From this point where people leave I would like to believe they will always be the same people they were when they left. Yet, the world does not revolve around me, and they will change they will grow, as will I. The next time I see them they will probably resemble the people I knew, and after that they will be different people who for moments I will recognize and talk about the old days. But that is the problem with whole people who change... they will be good ole days that we discuss, but they will have many more with many different friends. Whole people never stop racking up good ole days because not only are the old days good but often so is the present and such will be the future. Oh yes, times will be difficult but how long then will it be to be reminded that time makes those days not just old but also good. I look back on the days and months I stuggled and refer to them as good ole days, not beacuse I enjoyed them, but because of the benefits I reaped in relation to them.

My feeling are epitomized not only by these words (for words can only point to emotions) but also by the tune that carries them. In this song by Arlo Guthree there are many words that don't yet match my story in that time I rely on the music. The music then carries the emotion, but still just points to it, the emotion is within us. If you have ever been an avid reader of my blog and have never heard this song I recomend you use whatever MP3, I-tunes, buyable music site to download, because you will never understand unless you hear the song behind the words.

Last to Leave
By Arlo Guthrie

Lonely sunshine, days come easy,
Spend my time alone at rest,
And if I were the last to leave here,
Now would these roads be any less?

Oh, I'm the last to leave.
Now would these ribbon highway roads
Be less wonderful to me?
Why must I always be so slow?

Many friends come and go,
You know there's a lot of feelings that I've left behind,
And it's a lonely world, I know,
When your friends are hard to find.

But take the time, my memory fails,
And soak my eyes in the morning rain,
Like a sailor, sailing over Jordan,
On the road back home again.

Oh, I'm the last to leave.
Would these ribbon highway roads
Be less wonderful to me?
Why must I always be so slow?

God Bless, and God speed.