It also made me think in retrospect; in a span of past two decades, I had to bid adieu quiet a number of times. Each time, I have to say a bye, to friends or family I am a huge disaster!! I wonder how many times we all have said good byes; sometime easy, sometimes difficult ones; depending on how much involvement someone had in our lives, and how life still goes on saying new "hellos"
I remember saying first bye bye when we shifted home, when I was a fourth grader; even at that tender age, I knew I won't have this close knit neighbors, close friends who are family and that was so true!! In the bigger and brand new house, which was fairly distant from the older place (in those times 10 kilometers was a big distance, especially if you were underage to travel on your own) and kind of suburb; I remember cursing the builder for constructing house this far!! It took me over one year to build some rapport and have friends once again who were family to us, not to mention, older friends and neighbors still remained in close touch always. Now when I look back down those memories, I smile and cherish those days, things were certainly easier back then than they are right now; minus the bye byes; they are equally hard for me; rather they've become tougher. I pretty much remember all the bye byes I have said so far; each time we changed homes, I relocated for job/study; in India or in US. I distinctly remember my last night before I flew from India to study abroad!! My close friends had come to say goodbye in the evening through night; one of them even stayed the entire night and we just kept chit chatting and shedding tears of joy and sorrow; she and I we both were happy on my admission into PhD, and we were both upset about me going all this far away that I didn't know when I'd get to see her the next. I told her not to come next day at the airport as I won't be able to hold up again and she kept her promise. I made a great number of friends, who I still am in touch with and we connect every now and then!
I also remember after I finished my PhD program, I moved all the way from Ohio to Massachusetts, (driving a significant distance of ~850 miles). I were to drop a close friend to the airport a few days before my trip, we decided after she checks in, we'll hang out a bit at the airport and say a proper good bye! But I almost abandoned her at the airport; for, I didn't want to say a good bye to her. Later, when I had to leave, I decided to start at an early AM hour, since, I didn't want to meet people right before and cry, that was my defense back then; skip the goodbye to the place and the people; oh trust me, it didn't help much. The need for closure kept haunting me for weeks together!
I moved back to India sometime ago, and it was extremely tough! Leaving the family I made by myself, who I'd have never known if I didn't come to this country; the very thought was killing me. I still wanted to let all the people know that they mean a lot, and organized a party a day before I moved; for all I felt back then and know now, it was a cathartic exercise for sure, but gave me a closure, that helped a lot. Since then I realized that avoiding good byes was never a good thing, ceremonious or not, there should be a proper good bye, merely a handshake, or hug/kiss, waive; whatever makes one feel genuine and authentic. We should certainly practice it, express the feelings to the loved ones, what they mean to us; it certainly is difficult, displays our vulnerability, I'd say it is yet fulfilling and satisfying experience. 
Good Byes are not ending things forever between people, they are mere expressions to let each other know, that we had a good run; you mean something to me, you've been part of my story of the life. Today, as I end this post, I am thankful to all those people who helped me saying goodbyes, and kept in touch forever.
