So long, farewell, it's time to say goodbye...

My friend Andy just made the rounds here in the office and said goodbye to everyone. He tortured me and said that he would come back to my office last, so I had to watch him say goodbye to everyone else. By the time he got back to my office I was already an emotional wreck and the tears came easily.

When I first started working for Amor I was terrified of Andy, there was just something about him that did not seem very approachable. Then a couple years ago I moved into a house about a mile from his house and we started carpooling to work. I discovered that Andy is a pretty fantastic guy and not at all terrifying. We started hanging out and he soon became a very good friend. We spent an hour in the car together every day and Andy became the person that I talked to about everything going on in my life. He'd listen, offer advice when I needed it and be brutally honest even when I didn't want him to be. Andy had the ability to make me laugh more than the average person and the ability to make me so angry that I could not verbally respond to him.

I am going to miss our carpooling, visits to Arby's and the BBQ House, going to the movies, watching CSI, Law and Order and Without a Trace. I will miss the two of us singing along as loud as we could to country songs on the radio, the fact that he could tell me the name and artist of any song that came on the radio and how he always said that he was born in the wrong decade because he absolutely loves oldies music. But the thing that I will miss the most is hearing Andy's rendition of the National Anthem every morning on our way to work, I think maybe he was getting better.

Andy leaves tomorrow to start his training with the FBI and then will probably be stationed far away from San Diego. I know he will do well and I wish him the best.

Goodbyes are always hard. In a weird way they are almost like death because there is a mourning period that occurs when someone moves away.

If you can, say a prayer for Andy.