Goodbyes

Martha Graham said, "Never hold on to anything."  Was she immune to the feeling of departures?  I think rather she knew the feeling and lived it all the time, constantly letting go, but not without realizing the immense value and ephemeral quality of everything and everyone in life.  It's such a strange moment when one must sever and relinquish the right to someone's presence, to being in a certain place, to having a certain routine.  These things were there all along but only an earthquake in life's terrain can awaken us to their value, to their unique and irreplaceable nature.  What does it take to feel this all the time, to be in a place, to be with a person, to live as though it is a constant goodbye?  Perhaps goodbyes can help us practice this way of living.  To appreciate being while we are there and going nowhere else.