Most nostalgic/bittersweet farewell you've had so far?

Nice question but it will choke me up to answer. I will skip out on this one.

Easy, hands down, having to re-home my beloved goose “Marwyn” in my avatar in March of 2013 when I could no longer hang onto my home on 5 acres after the economic shitstorm that has ruined me.
He is the love of my life next to my daughter and I raised him from a 10 day old gosling and he was the delight of my life for almost 15 years. He turns 16 this July 9th. The only good thing is that I found him an amazing new mother & father goose that dote on him as I did, as an imprinted bird he HAD to go to another highly human social environment and they adore him.

He now lives on a 10 acre ranch, has a 100 sq. foot barn that he shares with his companion rescue goose ” Sonora” that I had for 5 years, another goose, 2 ducks, 6 chickens, 2 horses and 2 donkeys.
I visited him last month and I have become good friends with his new mom and we exchange daily emails, photos and phone calls every few weeks.
I have said forever that if someone had told me 20 years ago that the love of my life would be a goose, I never would have believed it.
I am forever enriched from sharing my life with one of the most personable, charming, smart and funny animals one could ever have.

Forever in my heart, my darlin’ Marwyn, closer than my peeps he is to me baby….:-)

The last beer in the fridge last night.

I’m gonna miss that little guy.

Walking away from a man I loved because the relationship became toxic. That really hurt.

I also remember heading for the airport after meeting my first niece for the first time. She was just a baby, and was so stinking cute. She was clueless, but I was crying. Silly, I know, but it was a hard goodbye. I wanted to stick her in my pocket.

I have two.

Number one: Saying goodbye to Korea, where I lived for close to two years as a pre-teen. I wasn’t especially sad at the time, but when I eventually realised that I would – in all likelihood – not be back for a long time, I was shocked. It’s been over ten years.

The second difficult goodbye was leaving a friend I had made during a four-week-stay in Costa Rica. We really, truly “clicked”. It’s been three years.

The parting with my dog Milu. It was 11 years ago. He died of some strange disease. Just a few days before that I fed him with my favorite food: powder milk. That morning I woke up only to find him in a grave next to my house. I didn’t have time to say goodbye.

My family blamed me for his death. I was shocked as I never knew such an innocent action could lead to such a horrible consequence. I lived in sadness and guilt long after that.

Driving away for the last time from the house my ex husband and I had shared.

Leaving my Mom’s house after we sold it. I haven’t been back to the neighborhood since. Too emotional.

Bart, my beautiful wolf hound, disappeared. Came to me in a dream licking my face telling me how much he loved me.

Construction workers found him dead a month later in the bottom of the elevator shaft eight floors down. No one understands how he fell. I cried forever.

Losing both my parents but knowing that they had lived long lives and were released from their long illnesses, was bittersweet. Leaving New Zealand 12 years ago was just hard and sad, but getting to see some of Europe and living in a new country with new challenges and the gift of my little man makes it now bitter/sweet. My heart is still there, though, in many ways and I’ll never feel as ‘at home’ here as I did there..

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies ugh. Heartbreaking

@cazzie true, no matter how many years go by, one never feels truly at home as they did back in their home country.

Yes, nothing shreds the heart more than losing a beloved pet. Love lies bleeding. :-(

When my best friend was murdered the night before his 16th birthday. It wasn’t bittersweet at the time. It was beyond bitter.
When he died, I died too. It wasn’t until recently, nearly three years later, that I can finally think about him without crying. It’s bittersweet because I have finally learned how to live without him.