Part of the existence of a traveler is the comings and goings of not only ones-self but of friends we have gained. You develop a reticence to “goodbye” it becomes “see you later”. That is until the goodbye is sudden and permanent.
For this kind of goodbye there are no norms for response, emotion or lack of it, we are as individual as the individuality of the one gone. For a traveler you cannot gauge your loss through an extensive length of time, a frequency of encounters or extensive knowledge of the friend that has gone.
But still you mourn the grain of existence, the bond of two that was short and no longer is. And you grieve for the individual traveler, one as you are who is not inherent in this place. They have belonged in another reality, where their roots began and where those closest to them exist.
Perhaps the hardest hitting is the sadness felt for the traveler’s family having to journey to this place at the end. The recognition for them of the travelers’ existence in this other time and space and that it ended here for them, somewhere unsettled and foreign. The last thing they can do for the traveler is to ensure the transition to a final resting place, their final reality.
The beauty of the traveler is that they have shared their existence, broadened it to more; more than one city, one country, one culture. Their existence becomes far flung and that is both the blessing and reward from and for the traveler. It is what we leave behind in place of our footsteps!
This is written in memory of Julia, Chip and Nicko all friends and travelers in S.East Asia who have passed away within one year.
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