The Lesson

I had an epiphany the other night just before falling asleep. My last thought was ..

Wait. Let me back up.

It started in the second grade, when my family moved from the county to inside the city limits of Dalton. Both my parents were teachers and they knew the city schools were better. Plus, with the edition of my younger sister, our small house on Westwood Circle was getting cramped. I left behind the only neighborhood friends I had ever known.

In the third grade my best friend moved away. She was the only person I liked at that school.

I had a friend die unexpectedly in the eight grade.

My great grandmother died around the same time that her daughter, my grandmother, fell ill. So, two weeks before my junior year in high school, my family moved from north Georgia to southwest Louisiana to help take care of her. At sixteen, this was traumatic. I didn’t speak to anyone for a year, including my parents.

I left a boyfriend in Lafayette when I moved to college in Hattiesburg. He was a year behind me in school.

It happened a few times in college when the upper level undergrads or graduate students that I had become friends with would graduate and enter the real world.

I left a boyfriend in Hattiesburg when I moved to Panama City to take an internship. I left another when I moved to Raleigh for graduate school.

When I left Raleigh to take a job in Panama City, several friends were there to say goodbye. I seldom speak with any of them.

My grandfather passed away shortly after moving back.

A couple years into my new job, I lost a good friend to graduate school. When she moved away, we hardly ever spoke. Both of us were busy. Time passed and we grew apart. Now, we hardly know each other.

My sister lived with me for a whole year. In that year, we became closer than we have ever been. She moved away upon being accepted to ULM’s Pharmacy School.

Every year, young undergrads and recent graduates come through the internship program at my lab. For three months, they belong to me. They are there whenever I need them. Every time I ask. No matter the task. Then, they’re gone.

I completed the 365 Days Challenge on Flickr in 2007. I made a lot of online friends that year from around the world. Beautiful, witty people who cared about the art. Come December 31, 2007, I put down my camera and pretty much disappeared from Flickr. I’ve only recently come back to it this year upon accepting the challenge again for 2009. Most of my friends are still there, but most have also moved on. A year is a long time to be away.

My last thought the other night before falling asleep was, “This is the lesson I have to learn.”

My lesson in this life is to learn how to hold on to the people I love. No matter the distance.

These days, you can find me via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, CaptainBallerina.com, and three different emails every day. I purchased a Blackberry also so I am never off the grid. If you need me, I am there. I spend a lot of time plugged in and I love it. My new mantra is, There is no substitute for time.

Recently, my technician and best friend moved away for graduate school.

My personal trainer, workout partner, and the woman who pushed me to become a Spinning instructor moved to Hawaii because her husband got a great promotion.

My sister spent the holidays with me. She has now gone back at her home, starting her last semester of classes in pharmacy school.

In February, a kindred spirit that I’ve only recently had the pleasure of calling friend will be moving back to her hometown.

Am I sad? Not really. These are opportunities for me to learn my lesson.

***

And then you had to bring up reincarnation over a couple of beers the other night. And now I’m serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime.
- The Indigo Girls, “Galileo”