Thank You and Emotions

I'm one of "those people" who don't like to display my emotions for the world to see. "Why," you may ask "are you then talking about this on a forum such as a blog?" I don't know. It's something that I thought about a lot yesterday as the emotions were present, so it's all I can think of to write today!
Saying goodbye or writing a thank you note can stir up a lot of emotions. If I'm saying goodbye to you, I will probably strive to keep my sadness from showing. I understand that saying goodbye is a part of life. If I'm the one leaving such as when I left Alabama, I have a good understanding that I have already considered my decision and have chosen myself that I will leave. I think I'm doing what is best. I've already decided that I'm not going to change my choice even if I'm sad. In this particular case, I am both happy to go since I get to be near John, and sad to leave since I moved away from so many friends as well as my parents and siblings.

If you're the one moving away, I will also try to keep the goodbye from being sad. I don't want to make it harder for you to keep your emotions in check so I will keep things lighthearted. If I start to get emotional, I will tell myself to think about this sadness another time - preferably when I'm by myself and unlikely to be disturbed.

Writing a thank-you note can be even more emotionally draining for me than saying goodbye. That is one of my excuses for taking six weeks to write thank you notes for my showers, but procrastination plays a big role as well. Amazingly enough, I am finished! I've been writing these thank you notes on and off for several weeks now. Finally, after focusing on them totally for more than four hours yesterday, they are done and in the mailbox! I guess it's funny that I waited until they were all done to mail any of them, but somehow I didn't want to mail any of them unless I mailed them all. So, that means that some of you will get thank-you notes dated several weeks ago.

Just know that as I wrote your thank you note, my brain thought through many of the precious memories I've shared with you and how awesome each one of you has been in my life. I certainly don't deserve the wonderful friendships I've had in Alabama. I could never have imagined that I would even know fifty people, much less that so many would become such dear friends. I have enjoyed thinking back through all the memories with these people and loved to finally take the time to write a special thank you for each one.

Most of the thank you notes were for friends from work or church or camping circles, but some of the thank-you notes went to several of John's friends who mailed gifts to us. We have had a lot of fun receiving so many awesome things in the mail that are perfect for our home.

Now that I've finished the thank you notes, my next task will be to start going through pictures - both for Peru stuff and for myself!