Have you ever had an easy goodbye? I haven’t. This past week we had to say goodbye to “our street boys” and all the people we have worked with that have touched our lives. I have never cried so many happy tears, given and received so many hugs and felt loved all at one time!
We spent everyday for the past three months with these people, at first they were “the boys who lived on the street.” Then they become our friends who we played games with, but now they are our family. When they hurt we hurt, when they were happy we were happy! When we were around them our attitudes completely changed you could instantly tell there was love in the room, happiness and a ton of laughter!
When we found out the date we were leaving we dreaded the date. We didn’t know how to tell them we were leaving, we didn’t want to face the fact that we may not see them again, we didn’t want to be sad. We even made a rule; we weren’t allowed to talk about leaving until the last 3 days we were in Guatemala. Wednesday was the day it hit us…we were leaving!!! I could not control my emotions, I saw our street boys and tears started rolling and they weren’t stopping. Instead of me taking care of them they were taking care of me. They told me everything would be okay and that they would see me again! Hearing them say that made the rest of the day!
Thursday came around and we wanted to do a little something for Christmas! We got them each gifts and personalized them! Seeing their faces light up with joy was truly amazing. One of the girls, Glinda my “main chick,” was happy when I gave her a picture. On the back I wrote her little letters and once she open them she hugged me and started to cry. The gift we gave me were her thankful words, she said, “you will always have a place in my heart and I will love you forever.” Right there and then I promised her I would be back in 7 months and I can’t wait to see her again! There’s a boy Kevin who just lights up the room with his smile. He and I have had very little communication with our language barrier but when I gave him my gift he walked right up to me gave me a big hug and a kiss then in English he said, “I will never forget you” the sweetest words in the world. The tears just keep on flowing there was no controlling them after that!
Then Friday rolled around, the last day we were going to see “our street boys.” The day we were dreading finally arrived. We got up early that morning and went to the street to see our boys one last time. It was early for us and early for them but when they saw us walking up the street they all woke each-other up and for the first time they were smiling in the morning, which never happens since it is the morning! I was greeted with a big happy giant hug for Glinda we sat on the street for about an hour talking and I loved every moment of it. It was almost time to go and we had to be on a bus for a couple of hours….of course I had to go to the restroom! I didn’t know where to go so I asked Glinda to help a sister out! She hooked me up! She jumped right up grabbed my hand and took me to the restroom. She knew we had to leave soon so she pushed the other people out of the way and made them wait! We were gone for a while and one of my teammates thought I tried to run away with Glinda if I could I’d bring Glinda home with me in a heart beat!
Yes it was hard saying goodbye to our street boys but knowing I’ll be able to see them again makes it all worthwhile! Glinda and Kevin will be in my heart and mind forever and ever!
