Goodbye and Farewell

Friday evening. Class ended at 4:30. leaving us a half hour to put all the bells and chimes back in their respective cases, fold the cloths, break down the tables, and move everything back into the bell room for next week's conducting class.

People had been packing their cars and vans all day. Those who only took the morning class had long since departed. One of the students from bell class had to leave for a wedding he was playing for. The rest of us, all twenty, were antsy about getting on the road. Only three of us were planning on departing early Saturday morning, two guys and myself.

I helped people pack their cars, hugged them goodbye, wished them safe travels. As the dust settled, an eerie quiet descended over the campus. Bad enough the semester had ended, but on a holiday as well. There were maybe six cars in the parking lot and no one in sight. The organ was thunderingly quiet. Not a piano or voice could be heard. It was going to be a long and lonely night.

I don't often get homesick, but I was ready to be home. I did not look forward to an entire day of driving to get there either. I went to a movie - something I rarely do - just to fill the time. It turned out to be rather lame. I returned to my room and picked up "The Brothers Karamazov" - my choice of light reading for the summer when the coursework got to be too much. I was just far enough into it to be interested, a mere few hundred pages in an epic novel [started at the suggestion of my seminary professor - a bit deep, but it has its profound moments - besides, I somehow missed this in my earlier life when I was reading the classics].

I slept well, dreamed weird things (they could have happened, sort of) and woke early. I had packed most everything the night before, leaving only my pillow and quilt and a few necessities to carry to the car in the early morning quiet. As I moved silently through the empty hallways, I said my farewells.

Goodbye, dorm room.
Goodbye, bunk bed.
Goodbye, chapel.
Goodbye, organ.
Goodbye, bookstore.
Goodbye, bluff.
Goodbye, library [return book here].
Goodbye, computer lab.
Goodbye, spraying fountain.
Goodbye, spiders, mosquitoes, gnats.
Goodbye, construction.

Until next summer. Be well. Be upgraded. Survive the year in one piece. I will see you in 2009, Lord willing.