Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.
The above quote accurately captures the gamut of emotions one feels when they are required to depart from a loved one. These emotions and feelings are often overwhelming when one knows the individual parting may never be seen again (an old friend moving to a new country, a lover who must relocate overseas for a job, a beloved son going off to war, a dying parent). However, they can still be quite painful and poignant when the one departing is only going for a while but they are still much beloved by the individual remaining behind. They are most difficult to deal with when the departure is caused by a break-up of a relationship. The following story best conveys these kinds of moods and emotions:
Samantha looked around the bedroom one last time now that all of her belongings were packed. She remembered how hard it was to get the dresser moved into the cramped quarters when she and Dave first moved into the run-down flat in a portion of the city notorious for its crack trade. None of that mattered then. Nothing mattered then. Nothing that is except the love shared between her and Dave, one she and he felt was guaranteed forever, the certified, real McCoy. Now, as she clasped the latch on her travel bag she suddenly felt a cyclone of emotions begin to well up inside, ones she felt she had dealt with, ones she felt would not possess her any longer. As she ignored her emotions and tried to suppress them, she noticed one of Dave’s socks lying on the floor just in front of the bed that used to symbolize their love, both intimate, physical and spiritual. As she knelt down and picked up the sock, she gently caressed it, smelled it, and began folding it so she could put it in his drawer. Dave would be staying and she was going. As she moved to put the sock into his drawer, she realized that never a
...