I carry it in my heart

This is for my dear Greensboro friends and colleagues -- all of you who have so generously warmed the cockles of my heart with your well-wishes, kindnesses, and company, especially these past few days. Time has flown by. Just 8 weeks ago, my retirement was only "talk" and moving to the mountains was only a dream. But today, my home is packed and ready to go. Today I am saying good-bye to the work-a-day world with its mixed-bag of frustrations and joys.

But I am not saying good-bye to you. That doesn't mean that I'm not leaving because I am. I doesn't mean that I'll visit, although I will. It doesn't mean that you'll visit me, although you're always welcome.

I'm not saying good-bye to you because you will always be with me. You are a part of who I am.

Starting in 1996, we spent many hours together creating a great educational program for the University. We jumped through hoops together, solved problems together, felt angry together, traveled together, and felt the joy of our successes. Along the way, we celebrated births, mourned deaths, got to know each other's families; we had a whole lot of laughs. And over the past year, we watched with bitter disappointment as political and economic stresses took down what we'd created.

They say that the only thing that never changes is change itself. That's not quite true. You see, while things may change, the experiences that we shared over time will always be a part of who we are. They joys of knowing you and working with you have made me the person I am today.

I'm reminded of a poem by my favorite writer, e e cummings:

           i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
           my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
           i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
           by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                            i fear
           no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
           no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
           and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
           and whatever a sun will always sing is you
           here is the deepest secret nobody knows
           (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
           and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
           higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
           and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
           i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

I'm not saying good-bye to you because I will carry you in my heart always.