Don't You Just Love Surprises?

Don't you just LOVE surprises? It's even better when the surprisee, if I may call him that, is so surprised, he's shell shocked. And can't speak for the next two minutes. Better still, when everyone in his family (including his 5 year old sister!) pitches in to avoid someone from ruining the surprise!!! In any case, a surprise farewell party always takes a little pain out of the farewell.
Boy... Farewell party... I've had a fair number of those in the past few months. And regardless of who you're bidding farewell to, the feeling is always pretty much the same - a rush of self-admiration when your guest of honour is surprised (or at least pretends to be!) even if you were not even remotely involved in the planning. This is soon followed by a rush of memories of times you've shared with the person, often with an attached conversation and laugh. Enjoying the food, then. (Most important part of the party!) And then there's this inexplicable empty sorta feeling. You know that there are tons of ways to keep in touch with anyone who's anywhere remotely close to an internet connection (and that's about 90% of the world!). Yet you know there's something about each and every person that you're going to miss... It could be a funny nickname, a weird mannersism, an idiosyncracy, a lack of talent in a particular field... Something that enjoyed seeing/ hearing over a few years, but have somehow taken for granted, assuming that these daily 'phenomena' would always be there. One day you wake up and find that someone you've relyed on for both support and laughs is far, far away. You e-mail them all the time. Messengers make sure you never have to run short of chats. But there's something missing... The difference between a 'u' from a keyboard and an almost musical 'YOU???!!!' from a sweet voice that lingers in your ears and then in your head... I've felt this so many times, I've lost count.
But then you suddenly get a rush of blood to the head when you realise that no matter how far away he or she is from you, there's an invisible, infinitely stretchable bond that ties the two of you together. No matter how long he or she goes without sending you an e-mail or phoning you, you can rest assured that he or she is thinking about you just as you are thinking about him or her. And that that strong bond can never be broken. Because it's been built on years of solid trust and affection. And that distances are nothing when you can just close your eyes and see that smiling face every single day.
Like I've said earlier, I've had a fair number of goodbyes to say over the past few months. But everyday, I close my eyes for a minute and visualise something that reminds of each of these wonderful people who're FAR, FAR away. Most of the time, I end up laughing. I open my eyes and find that we're not that far away after all.