When have you had to say, "Goodbye, Halcyon Days"?

I don’t think I knew they were halcyon days at the time. Only in retrospect did I see that something sweetly joyous and carefree had ended.

Ah, 6th grade camp I believe it was in 1999. We had gone up to Mt. Palomar and boy was the experience the greatest! Getting to meet new people and being in the woods. I can still remember the crisp of the fresh air when getting off the school bus and into the resort. I felt at peace. My nostrils stung of freshness. One of the things on my mind was, “I wonder what chicks are here!” Also keeping in mind that I liked a girl from my school already and hoped she’d become my girlfriend when we got back if not at camp. As I recall leaving camp, I remember more or less telling myself that magical place is gone, and the bond I made with some of the kids would fizzle out just as soon as it began. I believe I did get to sit next to the girl I liked on the bus.

Like @Jeruba, I did not know these days were the good old days until years later—those days weren’t perfect while going through them, but in retrospect, they were perfect.

I haven’t said goodbye to them just yet—I’m still waiting to say hello to the next ones :)

Never.

Same here, like @Jeruba, I didn’t know what I was getting into. I knew I was making a change, but I had no idea that my life would never feel my own again.

I’m not sure I ever had halcyon days. I find some joy in almost every day, but there have always been some cares to contend with to go along with the joy. If there were carefree joyful days, they were single events, not a whole blocks of them and there was certainly not a spacific dividing line.

Tell us about yours, @King_Pariah. What made them halcyon, and what brought them to an end?

Simply put, I was in a relationship with someone I care for deeply. And my time with them was lovely to say the least. Was it perfect? Of course not, we had our fights and whatnot, but I never felt so calm, collected, and happy in my life (which I know I at times whine about with seemingly no end). And well, it became a long distance relationship, and… well, we weren’t one of the lucky few couples that can still make it with such a long time apart. So it ended, those happy calm days. The days are still calm for now, but they seem to be getting bleaker. I know it most likely isn’t permanent, it’d be silly for me to say things are never going to get better and that that was the best it’d ever be. But those, as of now, were my Halcyon days. And for now, it’s goodbye.