Once Again: Empty Parking Lot

Ezekiel 37:12 - "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel."

In the last four years, I have said good-bye to a large number of small, tight-knit communities I have grown to love and cherish. 

From Jacksonville to my freshman ward in Provo to Smyrna to my MTC group to Maryvale, AZ to Montego Bay to May Pen to Spanish Town to Port Antonio to the Jamaica, Kingston mission to Washougal, I have met individuals who have done nothing but change me for the better. A day doesn't go by that I don't remember my experiences from at least one of those places and feel gratitude.

I honestly thought that I had the art of saying good-bye down to a T. However, following the end of this last semester, I realized I still had a ways to go.

Throughout my life, it has been I that always shouldered my bags and walked away from the community. In regards to my past year of college, when all was said and done, I was not the one walking. Instead, the community bid farewell and walked away from me.

It's a strange experience, passing through and past the halls that once contained my dear friends and finding them barren. In many ways, I feel like the survivor of a horrible plague that consumed everyone I knew, save for the few other individuals besides myself immune to the disease. In this case, the disease is being homebound; the immunity, staying for ongoing education.

So, once again, I've had to ponder the effects of reconciling oneself to abrupt absences in one's life, even in a unique way I never have before. Thankfully, the same method I've used throughout those eleven-odd walks still applies.

No matter who drifts apart from or moves away from or loses contact with a loved one, they will eventually be reunited in the grand family reunion in the last days, when all will be resurrected and be brought to a remembrance of all things. Even though I may never see some of the friends I've made throughout my life in this mortality again, I can be assured they will not be forgotten, by either the Lord or myself.

Today, I want to invite all of you to honor someone to whom you've said good-bye. If you need a medium, use the comments below. As for me, as I walk through that lot from home to work, I'll be remembering you.