One of the hardest goodbyes

 

This is the year of never-ending goodbyes, it seems. Moving forward always means leaving something or someone behind. 

This amazing kid spent his entire summer helping us move forward in SO MANY WAYS, while working hard toward a goal of his own--to buy his aunt and uncle's old Mustang and drive it back home to DBU. He'd been saving for quite a while, but then he worked with his Uncle Matt every day for the last five weeks helping out with the business and earning enough money to purchase the car. 

David was able to be part of so many parts of this huge transition in our lives, between helping us find our future home and land, helping his dad find a new truck for work, helping us find a church that felt like home, being an actual part of the business that Mike is joining Matt in, and finishing the job of moving his grandma out of her house and into a new one. He stayed just long enough to be able to do that last thing, and then he packed up his new car last night after getting back from Warsaw.

And this morning he drove out to New Song to say goodbye to me and the cats (he said goodbye to his dad when Mike got to Matt's ready for work this morning) before he drove away. 

I think I got all my tears out ahead of time yesterday just thinking about it, because so far I've been holding up okay. (Perhaps because I started teaching today and have been quite preoccupied.) I sure am going to miss him, though. He stayed 20 minutes away from New Song all summer living up in the Man Cave above the garage at his aunt and uncle's house. I think that separation was helpful in preparing me, making it feel more like his first two years of college when I only saw him on the weekends, sometimes not for weeks at a time. Now those weeks at a time are going to be for much longer stretches, more like months and months at a time. But I wouldn't want him anywhere else than where he is working on his degree at Dallas Baptist University. And I'm happy to know that he will be close to Juan and the rest of my family that lives in Texas. 

The hardest part is knowing that we took away his home. But I am super thankful for his summer involvement here in all the big things so that this has somewhat of a homelike feel now, too. 

At the time I'm writing this, he's well over half-way home. I think he's got about 4-5 hours of driving left, that is, if he doesn't decide to take a break for the night early and stay overnight somewhere. 

Sure do love that kid and am so proud of his independence, his maturity, and his mechanical knowlege and experience that give us more confidence in his ability to make a long trip on his own. Praying for God to keep him surrounded by his guardian angel until he's back at DBU, safe and sound.