absence makes the heart....

The phrase is supposed to be "absence makes the heart grow fonder"..... which I suppose is true. But experiencing friends departing here is so different than anything else I've experienced..... I think it makes me want to change the phrase to "absence makes the heart ache, and then move on."

Some of my best and longest friends left Kampala yesterday. Jon and Amanda had been in Kampala for 10 months.

Katie had been here 9 months. In a place where people are constantly coming and going, they were the stable ones. But now they're gone..... And even though I woke up this morning knowing that my life here had changed over night, I don't want this blog to become some sobfest or pity party, thinking "woe is me, my friends are gone!" Because I still have a good number of long term friends here. I still have my roommates, Dani and Julie, who will be around even after I leave.... and then I'll be the one who is the stable-long-term-friend that's leaving.

It's sad to see people go, and it changes the ebb and flow of life.... one person's presence (or in this case absence) can have a dramatic effect on the feel of our friend group. But then that's also the thing that makes this place exciting..... You never know who's coming next.

The summer-rush is about to come. We're getting our Sseko-Summer-Interns. Other friends' organizations are getting new interns. Random people will be backpacking through and sleep on our couch for a week. Cornerstone visitors will fill up the basement and we'll see new faces there every few days. The summer always brings in the masses. Some of these people will be interesting. Some I'll click with. Some I'll think are strange and won't understand. Some I'll share stories with and hear better stories in return. Some I'll watch come and go. Some will watch me leave this place. And that's just how things go here.... But you have to learn to love it.

I have to choose to get excited about the next round of people coming in. I can be sad about my friends who just left, reflect on the memories of all our good times, and know that the element they brought to my life here won't be replaced..... but also recognize that something else is always just around the corner.

I miss my freshly-vanished friends already, but I am choosing to look toward the next landing airplane and wonder who will exit the air craft and walk into my life here.