Farewell to Greece

Goodbyes are hard.  When it is time to leave, we get caught between anticipation and regret. We may try to skip the leave-taking altogether, and slip away unnoticed, without giving ourselves the opportunity to feel for what we are leaving behind.
My family is saying goodbye to this beautiful part of the world, we don't know for how long. We chose to take the time to fit in one more visit to a place we know we will miss. This is Chalkidiki in northern Greece and Jon and I first drove down here for a visit in 1993, before kids. We later returned with Jake, as a toddler, and started chartering sailboats from here.  Last year we brought our other sons and hoped they would appreciate the beauty as much as we did.

It has always been a quick escape from the things in our daily lives that bog us down.  It seems warmer here, and well worth the 5 hour drive.
The problem is deciding when to leave.  Do we try to get going and beat the traffic, or stay till the last rays of sun are dying?  The sand is warm and the water is blue.  It almost seems to beautiful to leave.
But leave we must.  And I have decided that it is best to leave while the sun is still high in the sky, the water is looking inviting, and the waiters are calling me to eat at their seafront restaurants. Then you leave smiling, with all those pleasant memories still in your mind.  And you have a reason to come back again.  If you wait until the weather changes, the hour gets late and everyone is tired, you leave in a state of tension.

You feel the pull between the need to get home and the regret for all that you didn't accomplish. You drive home angry, and no one makes good decisions when they are angry.
It is the same when deciding to make any move. Leave while things are still going well, when you will be missed, and when you will miss all the good you are leaving behind.  You are leaving for the right reasons then, and it doesn't matter if you don't find your way back... you have the memories for life.

farewell: from the Norwegian "far vell" meaning "travel good".