Leaving, and Being Left

by Laura on July 17, 2010

The taxi drove away today, and the wails erupted.

The car pulled from view, and I was left with three sobbing children on the street corner of my Asian neighborhood.

I tell the story {and talk about the struggle of living away from family} here . . .

{Sorry the last two sentences of the video cut off, and my hair is totally messed up now, so I can’t re-do it. Essentially, I end my 3-minute chat by saying, “Be encouraged, and play your puzzle piece well,” and “Love you Dad and Mom.”}

What has been YOUR hardest goodbye?

Leave a comment.

Tagged as: expat mom vlogs, missionary mom blogs, saying goodbye, videos, vlog

http://www.brittanygray.blogspot.com Brittany

Laura, you are so right. Sacrificing the time we would normally spend with our family and friends in the states is one of the hardest things about living overseas.
I just want to say that it was awesome meeting your parents and I’m glad that you were able to have a month with them out here. I am sure it will help as you can communicate to them about what is going on in life in Thailand and they now can picture what you’re talking about in their heads because they’ve been able to experience some of it first hand!

http://www.lauraleighparker.com Laura

Absolutely, Brittany. I love that we can commiserate together! You and Emily and Amy are true gifts to us! love, L

http://www.prudychick.com Prudence

Thanks for sharing that story. My hardest good byes were when I moved away from the town I’d gone to college in. I left dear friends and a wonderful church. I had no problems when I moved away from home but leaving there was the worst homesickness I’d ever experienced.
Tamara

Leaving my childhood home: the home my mom and dad built themselves the year I was born on land that has now been in our family for 102 years, the house my 3 brothers and I fought to the death in, the barn we worked in and around, the kitchen sink I worked over and wished with every fiber of my being that I could leave, the pastures where I dreamed of being everywhere else but there, the place my brothers and I strove to leave. What I finally realized made it hard to leave was that I felt I was leaving my childhood behind; not the childhood of being carefree but the childhood that nurtured and honed me. This childhood home where love abounded in responsibility and expectations, tough love and a few hugs and kisses, fierce competition and perseverance lies on a small hill. What we all got from that hilltop drew us like a magnet time and again.
What Scripture teaches us is that the hilltop is not where we are to stay; we are to go back to the valleys, taking our strength from Above to use in the difficult time in the valleys. And yes, to use those lessons to teach others. So leaving is what we must do in order to honor the Teacher and the teachers who have shown us the way to love.
(Pardon me for taking so much space!)

http://www.lauraleighparker.com Laura

Oh, thanks for sharing, Tamara. I could feel the fingernails dug into the driveway of that farm as you pulled away from it. What a hard leaving, but what a deeply good thing that you had something so rich to make the leaving hard.

Laura

Anne-Marie

I miss you. I am praying. We (the kids and I) love to keep up via your blog. I love you friend.
Brittany 2e

I appreciate you’re honesty when I read your blog. It makes me miss you too. I know it’s been a while since we sat down and just talked, but I love learning from you.

I have to admit that my hardest goodbye was right after graduation. I was moving back to Colorado and my boyfriend, Walter, was staying in Missouri. We had already talked about marriage in our future and saw that this time apart was going to be hard, but unavoidable.
I was standing next to my car as it started to rain, holding on to every last second I could have with him. The moment came when we knew we had to say goodbye. I didn’t know when I would see him again and as hard as I’d tried to keep my composure I couldn’t. I cried as he got into his truck and drove away. I sat down in my own car and sobbed harder than I ever have in my whole life.

http://www.lauraleighparker.com Laura

Oh, man, Brittany! That sounds brutal. Goodbyes are always so much harder than hellos, dontcha think? Thankfully, time does wonders for the hurt of the leaving.

So glad you stopped by and so happy we are staying in touch!

Jan

Thanks Laura. It is not easy and goodbyes are NOT fun. We’ve said many and they don’t get any easier. Will pray that all of you can savor all the times that you had and we know your parents had to be amazingly touched by all they saw and did. thanks for all your sacrifices.
http://www.worldboundmissions.blogspot.com Christian

I always enjoy your blog and miss your family sooooooo much! Can’t wait to see you guys again.

My hardest goodbye was when v-team left on our trip and I had to say bye to Luke.

But since that day, life has been constantly full of goodbyes so I learning how to cope

I would love to hear from you and matt if you guys have the time. Praying for you!

http://www.lauraleighparker.com Laura

Yeah, man. Goodbyes seem to be a part of Christ-following sometimes. And there’s no getting around the hardness of it.

Can’t wait to hear about Africa . . . .

and can’t wait to see YOU out HERE some day in the future . . .

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