Saying "So long."

Today was a sad day. One of my very best work friends has moved on from the glories of working for DSS, and today was her last day.  Big sighs all around!  It was a fairly productive day, but all I really wanted to do was sit in her office and chat, since I know I won't be seeing much of her now. 
But that got me thinking.
Thinking about the seasons of friendship.  Of course, we know as adults that all relationships are seasonal.  Some relationships (like siblings and spouses) are for your entire life, and your go through seasons within the relationship, but I'm talking about the kind of seasonal where tulips only last for the spring.  The summer camp kind of friendship.  You've never been so close to a person as when you're spending your every waking minute with that person, and you're convinced that you know every single detail about your BFF's life, and they know everything about yours.  It's the kind of friendship that breaks your heart to have to physically leave each other's side at the end of camp.  (Please keep in mind while reading this that I never went to summer camp; I'm only going by other people's stories and Parent Trap.)
I pondered that a lot today.  I acknowledge as an adult that friendships can't last forever.  They just... don't always do it.  As I hugged my dear friend goodbye and we walked to our cars at 5:02pm today, I could feel the finality of the final moments of this season of our friendship. 
But as I was driving away, a ridiculously relieving thought came to my mind.  Maybe ALL friendships are the first kind of seasonal.  The one where they last your entire life, but come and go.
It felt like the end of an era (to quote Friends), but I found great comfort that another era is just around the corner.  An era of texting, and meeting at the mall, and catching up on facebook.  And after that, there are more eras to come. 
So Monday morning I'll head back to work, having not moved onward or upward.  I'll go back to my regular routine, and enjoy the era that I've got with the wonderfully fun coworkers around me.  I'll work hard, and maybe laugh a little too, and we'll miss our university-bound friend.  We'll leave her office door closed until, in a couple of months, someone else occupies the space. 
So if you've recently bid a friend "Adieu," remember dear friends: tulips only last for the spring, but they'll be back next year.