Never Can Say Goodbye…

Just like the song, I struggle with goodbyes. Many of us do. But if we don’t say goodbye and instead say “see you soon,” we can end up having friends all over the country, as well as friends all over the world. This is how I have chosen to view my dear friend and sister and Turkish teacher Muhsine’s move to Dallas. Where will I go for iftar next year? Perhaps I will go just a bit further south of Placitas.

That this would happen so soon after my right arm and publicity person, Carolyn Flynn, announced that she was moving to New York, may give me false hope. Carolyn (thank you, thank you, thank you) is moving back! Might this also happen with Muhsine? I would not wish such disaster on anyone, and I am happy for Muhsine and her family, as I was happy for Carolyn, but change is never easy. Who doesn’t want THEIR PEOPLE to just STAY PUT?

In fairness, I have most often been on the other side of this fence. When I announced that I was moving to New Mexico, my friends said things like, “I don’t do long distance well,” “How can you take your husband out of New York City?” and “How will I know which nail polish to wear if I can’t come next door to check with you first? It won’t look the same on Skype.”

One dear friend told me, “I thought you’d always be here.” And that is exactly what I thought about Muhsine, that she would always be here. As impossible as this notion is, we all like to think it could be so.

And so I will have to visit Dallas, even though, at the tender age of three (please read my new book, Myopia, a memoir) I swore I would never set foot in Texas again. One should seriously never say “never.”

Why make an exception to this Texas rule? I am a believer in exceptions when the cause is just. So let me tell you a bit about Muhsine:

a. Muhsine will want to kill me for posting this because humility is one of her strongest points.

b. Muhsine is one of the kindest and most thoughtful people I’ve ever known.

c. Muhsine is both brilliant and funny and a remarkable teacher of language as well as life.

d. Muhsine is the best cook in the universe! (My husband says so.)

Lest I sound a bit like Anthony Scaramucci in his ten days of praise to Donald Trump, I will list her faults.

a. She always gives me too much food.

b. She always encourages me too much in my poor attempts to learn Turkish.

c. She hardly ever lets me help her in the kitchen.

d. I cannot come up with “d.” I will have to see her again to come up with “d.”

We will all miss you, abla Muhsine!!

Goruşoruz Inşhallah! See you soon, God willing.