A Time for Good-bye

As the woman rocked in the rocking chair, it made the floorboards creak. The sounds were almost hypnotic as it creaked back and forth in the heat of the room. The woman had no expression on her face as she looked out the front window. She seemed to give into the rhythm of the movement of the chair. 

From behind her, she heard a noise, but she remained still. To react to the movement would have broken the quiet and that would have defiled a perfect silence, a peace that few find in their lives. 

"It's time to go," she heard the voice say. "Everything is packed and we have to leave now."

"There is a we?" she heard her voice say, but it felt from far away.

"No," the voice stammered, "Not anymore. But we still have to go."

"I know," she said quietly. "I knew before you did."

"Why are you still sitting there?" The annoyance was easy to hear in the voice.

She thought about it and it was hard to come up with an answer. There was no good reason to just sit there. Everything had been finalized, there were no arguments to be had, there were many more adventures ahead of her. She could not explain why she was still sitting there. 

"It's time to go, I've moved on," the voice said, now getting angry. 

"I know, so have I," she said serenely. 

"There is a closing and in 2 hours this house will belong to someone else! You have to move now!"

She did not respond, she just rocked back and forth, ignoring the demand to move. She ignored the further demands, she ignored the slamming of the door as she was finally left alone. When she finally felt the hush fall on her home, she smiled. It was finally quiet, finally at peace. In all the years she had lived there, she couldn't remember when it ever felt this much at peace. 

She smiled and closed her eyes. For a moment, there was nothing but healing silence. She heard all of the familiar sounds of the house and a tear fell down her cheek. It was the last moment she would recognize the noises as her own house. 

She opened her eyes and looked out the window and saw the movement outside her window. It was all the same sights and sounds....a dog barked, people walked up the block, she watched her neighbor pulled weeds from the front lawn, cars drove down the street. 

Once again she rocked back and forth and took in the sounds. There was a peaceful expression on her face. After a short time, her expression fell into a serious expression and she sighed. Slowly she stood up and stretched. She turned and started to walk out the room, but for a moment she stopped and listened again. It was the same things she had heard for many years...and she said good-bye to them.

It was time to move on. It was time to say good-bye. And she was finally ready to let it all go.