The goodbyes

Chandra robbed us of our hugging goodbyes to the kids, I thought.  But when we returned from our last coffee most of the kids were home.  We went upstairs, retrieved our bags and came down.  Everyone came to the study room for those official goodbyes.  I think Sudip was the 4th child I hugged, Sarah was already crying,  I picked him up, hugged and held him.  Now, I can't remember who had tears first him or me, but I know once I saw his I let mine go.  He was the one I thought was the cutest at the start but he had so much energy and I wasn't sure he'd ever really bond with me, but there we both were unable to leave each other without tears. He didn't have any words I would be able to understand, and at 7, I wasn't sure what he understood about this whole situation anyway but I knew how I felt.  After, I hugged more children and I saw him towards the window, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.  It is an image I will hold onto with as much memory as I can.  Other children put their arm around him, and I really can't describe what I was feeling, that little peanut touched me in a magnificent way in a new deep place that I didn't know existed in me.
They insisted we have some tea, it was hot but I choked it down and Sarah and I made our walk to the bus with Manoj and Samjhana.