Why?

It hurts so bad, God... why? 

That's the question I asked myself. Why must transitions and life changes so often hurt so very badly? 

Well, I didn't get an immediate answer... but one did eventually come to me. 

The change in question was the retirement of a very good friend and his moving on from his position as our pastor. Tomorrow be boards a plane bound for NY City, with Ukraine as the ultimate destination. He's looking forward to it. I'm becoming resigned to it. In his last message to us, he said that the painful goodbye was the dues he had to pay for the privilege of having been associated with our congregation for so many wonderful years.

So, that's it. I'm now paying the dues for the privilege of having had such a wonderful friend. Ok. I get that. Paying dues... well, we pay a lot of dues over the course of a lifetime. I grudgingly accept that this may be one of those times. The pain... well, it just has to be dealt with somehow, until it gradually fades from a full-blown heartache to a dull twinge and eventually a fond, painless memory.

So..... the purpose of this blog. I need a place where I can write about various transitions, what kind of changes they bring to my head and heart, and hopefully come to better understand the reasons for them and learn ways to come to terms with them. 

In this blog, I'll take a look at anything that qualifies as a life transition. I'm also going through another transition of sorts, a diet and exercise regimen, in the hopes of becoming a more manageable size and shape. Discussions on that topic can be read on my other blog, "Thick and Tired of it" (http://thickntiredofit.blogspot.com). But any other transitions are fair game.

So... life changes. Transitions. Moving on. Fasten your seat belts, folks... it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Who's game?