Farewell

It's always sad when family or friends move away. Monkey is experiencing it for the first time. Granted we have had people leave the area over the years but it was either when she was too little to understand or we really were not that close. Last night we went to visit with her Aunt, Uncle, and 3 cousins as they are leaving today. Her Uncle is in the Navy and they have been transfered to Guam for three years. Monkey knows that they are moving away and that we will not see them again for a long time. We spent a couple hours there and she had so much fun playing with her cousins and eating pizza. When it was time to leave though it was so hard on her. All I kept hearing was "but I don't want them to move!". On the drive home we talked of nothing more than sending letters and emails and lots of pictures. She doesn't understand why they have to move only that they are. Since they are the only link to her fathers side of the family at the moment I think she is taking it even harder. She knows who her dad is, meaning his name, she doesn't know him as a person. I've always explained his being absent was because he lived so far away. Now I think she is assocating that distance that she will no longer know her cousins. Hopefully that won't be the case.