Heartbreaking Goodbyes

Hi guys! [side note: ‘guys’ means ‘cow’ in Hindi, so if you say it to someone here, they reply, “Hey buffalo” ! HA!]
It’s Sammy writing today. I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Break! I know I am. Right now I’m sitting on the bus as our driver & “shotgun” rider try to fix the air conditioner… and yes, it is waaaaay hotter than home right now!
Anyway, right now everything is just sinking in and I’m trying to digest what just happened. Who knew saying goodbye could be so had. I obviously didn’t. I woke up early this morning so I could see the kids before they went to school. It was 6:30 AM and the older girls were doing heir chores for the morning. Candy wrappers were everywhere from the night before and he sound of smacking was still echoing throughout the hallways…the girl I had gone there to see, Sima, wasn’t there…. She had been with me since the first day we got there. She’s beautiful.
Well, I talked with some of the other girls and then I went to the small children’s hostel, “My Hostel.” This hostel was attached to the house and sort of overlooked the building we stayed in. The youngest is a 4 year-old boy named Misek, and the oldest, Lily, is 13. Let me tell you, I could stay in there all day and not think about anything outside of that room. I was infatuated with them. I wanted to be just like them. I’m watching them and they are so full of life and so much passion. I walk into their room and there they are, sitting on the floor praying, each of them with their own individual prayers. I look a them… and I love them. I love them and I don’t want to leave them.
We start our goodbyes and we cling to every word we say, grasp every hand we can until it becomes impossible to even look at one another before tears fill our eyes.
Now, he whole team is outside getting ready to load the bus, and here they come…they all come out of their classes to bid us farewell. Then I see Sima…she runs up to me, “Auntie, Auntie!” Sima doesn’t speak English, but even though we couldn’t connect our words, our hearts were connected and that’s all that mattered. Saying goodbye was hard for all of us – the whole team. But out of the overwhelming sadness comes the joy of knowing that someone, a beautiful someone, will never forget the three days they spent with you and you will never forget that beautiful someone.
“Mai Tumse Yaad Karonga”
“Mai tumse pyaar karthe hoi!”
[I miss you and I love you]
Sammy.