Sunday, October 9, 2011

It's Been A Good Run

Our family is taking a break from Arabic. We're going back to a close-by English Kingdom Hall now. It's just been getting to expensive. Taking a forty minute drive three times a week was too much. But it's been a good four years.

Our last meeting in our previous hall was on Tuesday. We didn't make a big announcement or anything, we just went around and told our friends. News spread quickly. It wasn't announced from the platform and there was no party by request. It's better that way. Everyone said they would miss us, and the feeling was very mutual. In the car on the drive to the meeting, I was actually excited to be going back to English. But as soon as my dad said our last meeting was that night, that changed. I still believe this is the best decision, as do our friends and the rest of the family. My excitement, though, turned to sadness. I didn't cry, but there was a tightness in my chest the whole meeting. I was eager to spread the news, but at the same time I didn't want to. I just wanted to hug all my friends without them knowing I wasn't coming back for awhile and let them know how well they were doing. Then vanish.

That, of course, didn't happen. I only told three people directly, I was approached by most everyone else in the group. I think there's a couple people that weren't told because they weren't at the meeting that night or they left too early. Hopefully those people got the goodbye email my dad sent out. I'm sure they'll figure it out. Any people missing from the Arabic group is noticed.

Anyway, it was an interesting goodbye. It was sad, but it was also full of smiles. People understood why we were taking a break from Arabic. I'm trying really hard not to say "leaving" because we aren't leaving at all. If we can afford to go to the conventions in the summer, then we will. We'll definitely visit. And we could come back, we just don't know. Finally, we had to walk out the door. I walked extra slow, trying to take it all in. We were at that hall for a year, and it was an amazing year. The door closed. We left the parking lot. And that was that.

Taking Arabic was so good for us. We've met friends that we'll forever have. We've expanded our ministry. We were able to travel more as a family. Those accomplishments will never be regretted. It's amazing how learning this language has changed all of us. I've been slowly (very slowly) maturing around adults who care enough to tell me when to shut up, and when I've said the wrong thing. There's too many people that are my age who literally have no one to guide them through life. I know that my parents are excellent at guiding me, but you can never have too many role models, right? Hopefully when I visit, they'll be able to see the "Adult Me." Because, let's face it, everyone's seen enough of "Teen Me."

Our first English meeting was today. My two closest friends are there, and it was glorious knowing that I'll see them on a regular basis once again. Also, there's girls my age in this hall, which will be nice considering I spend a lot of time with guys at school. I mean, sometimes I just want to talk about hair. It was a happy new beginning.

Learning Arabic was the best decision our family has ever made. It's just time to move on for now. The group will never leave our hearts or minds, and we will keep in touch. We love them after all.

May Jehovah continue to bless them.

No comments:

Post a Comment