Hugs Goodbye

Where I live if someone gives you a hug it's from the heart.
Steve Irwin

  

I am not a hugger. It is just not my chosen way to show my affection. It's not that I'm heartless or don't like you. I like my personal space. But when preparing to leave the country for two years, including all my friends and family, one can imagine that there would be a lot of hugs involved. I have done my best to be sincerely thankful for each one and genuinely return each squeeze.

My "trip o' goodbye hugs" has meandered up the east coast. It has taken me from Columbia, South Carolina to Southeastern Connecticut.

From South Carolina...

...To Connecticut

 Thanks Mr. Y :)

 

The view from my morning run in my favorite place, Bluff Point, CT.

I had meat pie and bottles of rose in Cola. I toured the Howie plantation in Goldsboro, North Carolina. I built a fort in Springfield, Virginia, enjoyed peanut M&M's in Arlington, and mixed buffalo chicken mac n' cheese with a guitar jam session in Bethesda, Maryland. I've been to the major iconic American cities on the east coast: Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston.

Three Cities

I've said goodbye to friends of 27 years and friends of 3 months. I've put down floor stickers in a charter school in Harlem and moved a friend out of a fourth floor walk-up in South Boston (my thighs burned for days). I've been a Jenga champion, playground climber, and s'more roaster. I've enjoyed goodbye cocktails Dupont Circle rooftop and at happy hours with the breeze off the Long Island Sound. And all along the way, I've gotten and given lots of hugs.

There have been short hugs and tall hugs. Awkward hugs and never-let-go hugs.Teary hugs and silly hugs. Early morning, on-the-way to work hugs and late night, closing-down-the-restaurant hugs. Hot, humid, sticky hugs and cool New England (or airconditioned) hugs. Hugs in parking garages, at train stations, and airport hugs.

Three days left and I've given most of my hugs, and only have a few important hugs left...