Parting is sweet sorrow
Our team had to say goodbye to a much-loved colleague this week. She was leaving to take up an exciting new chapter in her young life.
As anyone who has been in a job for a long time, moving on can bring so many mixed feelings. I found a quote from a wise character who said, “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard,” from A A Milne's delightful Winnie the Pooh.
Incidentally, A A Milne's book published in 1926 is officially now in the public domain. Copyright protections expire after 95 years following publication.
The large global media and entertainment conglomerate which had previously copyrighted the works now only retain copyright for “newly added” material to the franchise.
The Study of Public Domain states that copyright and public domain in this way supports creativity. Creative minds can now freely adapt the original book — turn it into a play, musical or film, or write a prequel or sequel — without fear of violating intellectual property rights.
This could be good news for libraries who also can use Milne's work and share his wonderful stories of Winnie the Pooh with a whole new generation of children.
However, I digress. While looking for an appropriate book quote I got lost down a literary rabbit hole. There are many great endings and goodbyes in novels, most of which are heartbreaking but some positive and ethereal.
Here are a couple of examples.
“Life is made of so many partings welded together,” from Great Expectations , by Charles Dickens.
Jack Kerouac's brooding novel On the Road describes a goodbye as: “What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the toohuge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”
As librarians we do think that the best children's books, painful though they might be, have the most incredible and sensitive goodbyes.
We are lucky to have a great many of such books. Goodbye Mog, is a beautifully illustrated picture book which deals with losing a pet in an honest, loving way. Charlotte’s Webb by E B White is a book filled with an ending that is so beautifully written that it would be hard to read without a tear.
As a youngster, I do have a strong memory of Mrs Gray, my primary four teacher, reading it aloud chapter by chapter, and our class sobbing our little hearts out.
Growing up, it's important to have books like these, full of characters we can identify with, laugh and cry alongside, knowing we're not alone in feeling the way we do.
These are the books that take us on an unforgettable emotional journey while sitting in the comfort of an armchair.
I'll end with a quote from J M Barrie, Peter Pan: “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”