I am afraid, which makes me brave.

I have so much love for this man.
And I had to say goodbye.
People try to make me feel better by saying that I'll still see him; we will still email. But it won't be the same. Everything has changed in the past year, everything but his office and his tea collection. But soon that will be gone, so much of what I loved about the school will be gone and I will be forced to hide away on my own.
It will be okay, though.
His legacy will still be there, his voice in my mind and his soft laugh in my heart. It's hard to explain out relationships to other twenty year olds because it seems like such na odd pairing. A sixty something and a twenty something with piercings and tattoos. But we both look at the world with wonder; we both love to marvel at nature, listen to the birds, swing on porches; we both understand the need to be by ourselves and be silent, to pray and worship in solitude; and we both love deeply.
I will miss him, but I would rather miss him because he is gone than to not miss him at all.