Goodbyes have always been difficult for me. I’m pretty good at reframing many things and situations in my life, but for some reason goodbyes have tended to be associated with either never seeing a person or place again that I want to see again, or some kind of rejection. I’ve been working on leaning into the idea that nothing is permanent. Goodbyes are simply a part of the journey of being human. Whether the goodbyes are initiated by someone else or by me, for mutually agreed upon reasons, to place boundaries or because someone is simply connected only for a season or a reason, goodbyes aren’t good, bad or even necessarily personal and don’t even have to mean anything!
Which brings me to my latest awareness of goodbyes. I’m realizing how goodbyes can actually make the people and places I feel connected to RIGHT NOW in these present moments I’m living that much more special. This weekend, B-Rod and I got to surprise and hang out with some of these extra special connections.
On our way back from Mexico, we knew that our good friends DawnO and RobO were going to be in Seattle for the weekend to go to an event. As B-Rod still had some time off, we decided to make a quick stop at home and hatch a plan to surprise DawnO. I contacted RobO and we got into planning mode (which is NOT necessarily a strength for any of us involved in the planning for this surprise 😆)
There were some glitches along the way which caused us to worry that we would be caught (but would also make some good stories if we weren’t) and off to Seattle we went.
The first surprise for us was how easy it was to get there . . . that’s not how it was looking when we originally listed on flights!
As we arrived a day earlier than our friends, we had some time to explore a bit and ended up at the Seattle Aquarium. Having just spent a lot of time by the sea and being inspired to start diving again, we had a lot of fun here!
The time for our big surprise finally arrived, and we were nervous!! We got to the restaurant extra early and anxiously waited for what seemed like forever!
Operation “surprise DawnO” was a success and we sat down to excitedly chat, share our stories and have some pretty amazing food at Ding Tai Fung, a restaurant DawnO had chosen for their mouth watering and famous dumplings.
We then hopped in a cab and made our way to the event that RobO and DawnO were in Seattle for . . . . The Moth storytelling event.
We had the next day to spend exploring Seattle together and having a few adventures.
Harbour Cruise
We got on a boat and saw the city from the water
Space Needle
We went up the Space Needle and saw the city from up above (while also having some extra fun)
Post Alley & Gum Wall
Dawn’s pic was Post Alley which we cam across spontaneously and where we were introduced to the gum wall
Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum
Before getting to Seattle, we had purchased a city pass that included entrance to various activities and museums. I didn’t know anything about this particular museum and left on my own, this probably wouldn’t have even crossed my radar. Glad we went though because it was pretty coo!
It was a great day of hanging out, catching up and having fun
The next day, for personal reasons, I had to get back to Canada. But, B-Rod still had an extra day, so he excitedly booked in to geek out on plane stuff at the Boeing Factory. I was going to leave him to tell you all about it from here, but . . . . no photos can be taken at the factory and it’s probably only our plane friends that would understand the terms and acronyms he’d throw around anyways, so . . . . if you’re a plane nerd and want to know more, he’ll be happy to tell ya! ✈️🙃
A short, but fun weekend, and though there was a goodbye involved, I value the time and connection I got to have over the last few days with my peeps!
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***** to check out RobO and DawnO’s interpretation of adventures this weekend 🙃 . . . click HERE