Despedidas (Farewells)

New Yorkers are well acquainted with goodbyes. We have to say goodbye to half our friends every few years, as they move to the suburbs or to other cities or back to wherever they're from. I never liked the feeling that my community was breaking up, that there was no stable group of friends whom I could rely on to be there indefinitely.

However, I think there comes a time when you realize you've grown, you've changed, and it's unhealthy not to move on. As one of the Peruvian pastors here said recently, most of us are paralyzed on some level, and it takes a great impetus to find and take the next step instead of letting inertia take over.

During my last few weeks before leaving New York, I had at least a dozen farewell dinners. Whether it was just with one or two of my girlfriends from NYU, or with my entire department at work, I found myself giving speeches and saying goodbyes to nearly ten years worth of relationships! It was pretty draining, but also good to say goodbye properly, and get some closure, before closing the book on such a major chapter of my life.

Interestingly enough, I've arrived in Peru in time for another wave of goodbyes. Many of the interns who had just arrived when I visited last August/September are now leaving Peru, and another wave of summer interns is coming in. A lot of the August-May interns were just out of college, so they're going back to the States now to start over yet again at grad school or a new job.

Despite only overlapping with them a few weeks last summer and a few weeks this spring**, I'm really going to miss those that I got to know well. The community here is pretty tight, and I've had more contact with them than I've had with some of my New York friends in years. I just hope they keep changing the world, and don't get stuck in a hamster wheel somewhere in corporate America.


**I'm still thinking in Northern Hemisphere seasons, despite the fact that it's freezing right now. Weather.com says Trujillo is in the 60's F, but given that all the buildings here are made of concrete and tile and have no insulation whatsoever, it feels more like 50 - and like most gringos I packed a bunch of T-shirts!