These days
goodbye doesn't mean anything spcial to us anymore. It's like saying "
chicken" or "toast", really.
It doesn't carry the enormity of "I don't know when I'll see you again". It doesn't have the terrified undertones of "I have to face the world without you one more time". It can't begin to contain the awesome solitude of "this is all I have to write for now because writing just doesn't fill me up like you do".
We don't say goodbye in airports, on the phone, in a letter any longer. We just say "bye", and one of us goes out the door and we both know they will come back. We're on two ends of a warm safety cable of togetherness.
Love is when goodbye is just a word.