Parting is such sweet sorrow.

We've just had family to stay with us for a few days.  The visit was not without a few problems.  We can usually guarantee wall-to-wall Turkish sunshine at this time of the year, but it wasn't to be this time!  Our guests arrived in a thunderstorm and the weather remained unsettled throughout their stay, reverting to blue skies and sunshine on the day of their departure.  The second spanner in the works, was the fact that my wife and I were suffering from a bug, which meant that neither of us were our normally bubbly selves.  Then to cap it all, on the day of departure one of our guests noticed that one of her ears was missing a diamond earring that was normally attached.  At the time of writing and after much searching, it still hasn't been found.  But despite all these problems, we had a great time!

When you're excited about a planned event, it is only natural to want everything to go well so it is disappointing if there are negative forces like the ones I have described.  But if the relationships are strong and resilient, then the positive forces will far outweigh the negative forces.  So the ability to ride the storm is, in my opinion, a test of how any group of people relate to each other, regardless of whether they are family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances.

I believe that the real test of a relationship is the feeling experienced when saying goodbye.  "Parting is such sweet sorrow" is a line from the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.  Juliet is saying good night to Romeo.  "Sweet sorrow" is clearly an oxymoron, but it can describe a feeling experienced by people who have strong feelings for each other and know that any separation is not forever.  So there is the sorrow of parting but the sweetness of knowing that they'll meet again.

We're a funny old species we humans!