the long good-bye

I want to elaborate on that last item in my last post... the long good-bye.
Umm, let me set the record straight... the 15 minute good-bye was more like an hour long good-bye in our home!
I grew up on a dairy farm in a Scandinavian, Lutheran community in Wisconsin. My parents married in 1950. Five couples they knew also married that same year and they have all remained dear friends after all these years. My Mom came from a family of six kids and my Dad from a family of nine kids. Yes, cousins galore! I have wonderful memories of having these huge families over for visits. And yes, many of these families had ten kids or more! We only had six kids in our family and they used to feel sorry for us that our family was so small.

But you have got to hear about our long good-byes.

Here's how it went down. First the visiting family mentions that they need to be heading home soon. That is when my Mom would get up and refill cups of coffee and offer another round of cookies and bars. After a while the visiting couple would get up and holler for the kids to get ready to leave. They would then stand around and visit for several more minutes... eventually going outside, only to stand around and visit some more while slowly make their way to their vehicle. That was usually when us kids would start playing outside again, resulting in more time spent corralling all the kids together and piling them in the station wagon. Remember, they have lots of kids. The visiting couple would then get in and proceed to roll down the windows. My parents would then position themselves on either side of the car and visit with the couple for another fifteen minutes or so. When they'd finally start the engine, my Dad would still be hanging onto the side of the car as they inched forward, maybe reminding them to hold off cutting the hay in the morning, as rain was in the forecast. I kid you not, we would still be waving and yelling our good-byes long after they drove down the lane!

Well, it did not even occur to me till only a few years ago that Randy and I do the same. Ok, so we don't visit through rolled down windows while they are pulling out of our driveway... ok, so maybe we have... but we always walk our guests out to their car, talking for quite some time before they get in and then waving our good-byes as they drive off down the street.
Mmm... more like the half-hour long good-bye as I see it.