Saying Goodbye

I went to the café that I worked at for several years. As I was leaving with coffees and food, I saw a family who are regulars there sitting outside. I went over to them to say hello before I left.

Their son had grown quite a bit since I’d last seen them. He was getting frustrated trying to tell me something, not wanting help from his parents. After he was done, his parents and I shared how we’d been doing lately and other brief pleasantries. In a lull in our conversation, the dad said, “well, don’t want your coffees to get cold.” Meaning that I should probably leave, which was fine with me. There really wasn’t much else to say and it wasn’t like our conversation was really taking off. So I said bye, hope they have a nice day, whatever.

It’s interesting that we feel inclined to come up with reasons why we say goodbye.