29 Days

For a while there, it seemed like we had loads of time before Will left. Weeks and weeks, it seemed. And now, suddenly, we are buying suits and having dreams about being kidnapped by drug lords.

We were driving in the car yesterday, just he and I, and he told me he was going to miss me.  And now, we've gone there. Up until the moment he said that, I have been pretty successful about compartmentalizing those thoughts of him leaving, and telling myself I'd deal with all that later. Only now it's later, and I'm not so great anymore about plugging up the waterworks that start whenever I think about telling him goodbye.

I just really really like that kid, and I am going to miss him so much. He is so funny and smart, and I am going to miss all our random and irrelevant conversations, and all of his brilliant insights into the goings on of our world. I am lucky to have a kid that I feel like he "gets" me, and who I genuinely enjoy just hanging out with.

My advice to him so far about mission life is to live in the moment. Don't wish it away, don't count down the days, just be. Even the hard, sucky stuff, just live it and learn from it. Two years will seem like forever, but then one day it will suddenly be gone forever, so savor the moment that you have.  I hope I can do the same. I don't want to be counting down the days until he is. We're going to make the days count, by golly, especially the 29 we have left on this side of the hill.