Goodbyes

It seems like I say more goodbyes than I say hellos.

 

I love people.
I love talking to them, but I prefer listening to them.
I love listening to their dreams and hopes.
I just love listening to stories.

 

But I just listen to them and in the end I say goodbye.

 

I can talk to a person one day and find out the next that they killed themself.
I can look into a person's eyes and in the next morning find they died during the night.
I can be fixing cookies with someone one week and the next they died in the hospital.
I can look into a crib and after a night wake to screaming and death.

These are just a few of the goodbyes.

These are the ones that break my heart though over and over.
These are the goodbyes that will stick with me for life.
I just wish there were more hellos than goodbyes.
Then how would we learn to appreciate what we have,
if we never fear losing the ones that we love and cherish.