What's been your saddest/strangest goodbye?
 

I just saw this on Reddit and some friends and I talked about it over dinner. What was the saddest or strangest goodbye you have ever had?

For me the saddest involved a friend of mine when I was 20 years old and my buddy (same age) was in the Marines. He was getting sent to Saudi Arabia for Dessert Storm. I have known this guy since we were in the 5th grade. He had a few days leave before he had to ship out so he came home to see family and friends. At that time everyone expected Saddam to put up a hell of a fight and my buddy was right on the front. It was rough telling him goodbye and not knowing if I would ever see him again. He made it through without a scratch and was actually at dinner tonight. That weekend was his saddest goodbyes as well.

My oddest was also kind of sad. I had a job working in this office. There was a woman that worked there named Lorna. She was a nice lady and got along with everyone. She had been there for a long time and people liked her. One day she called in sick, which she never did, so people assumed she really was sick. She didn't show up the next two days (Thursday and Friday) and people were worried. She wasn't answering her phone and didn't call in. On Monday she came in and told everyone that she was leaving. She had gotten sick and felt dizzy the previous week. She went to the doctors and after several tests she found out that she had very advanced brain cancer and they think she may have less than 6 months to live. So she was leaving, cashing in her 401K, selling everything she owned and she was going to travel to every place she had ever wanted to go. I admired her for going out like that, but it was odd saying goodbye to someone and knowing that they were going to be dying soon.

My take is probably saying goodbye to a limb...

My saddest goodbye was also while I was in the Marines.

I was stationed in NC, and she was from California. We met while she was on a week long vacation to visit a friend of hers who was married to a Marine. She ended up extending her vacation an extra month. When I drove her to the airport I wasn't sure when or if I was ever going to see her again. We were both silent on the ride to the airport while we listened to Journey.

I did in fact see her again, and after the Marines I moved to California to live with her.

We were in a helicopter in France, doing some glacier snowboarding. The door was open and we hit a air pocket or something and the copter turned on its side, my friend fell out the door and I was able to grab his hand.

So here I am hanging onto one hand and this helicopter shaking all over. I was slipping out too and my friend could see it. He looked at me and said, "It's ok man... I'm not gonna make it. I'll see you in another life." and then he just let go and fell to his death.

Or maybe I saw that in a movie. Hmmmmmmm.

Saying goodbye to someone when I know I should have been a man about the situation and taken control.

Its one of my only real regrets.

Saying goodbye posthumously to two buckets containing my friends/co-workers blown up in Iraq in Desert Storm.

Having to say goodbye to a pet before putting them to sleep at the vets

I agree. Geographical location in the world could be irrelevant.
What is important is that all your organs and limbs are still located on your body.

a limb is not an organ. :2 cents:

My cuz just passed on the 1st. He was only 26. Brok his kneecap on July 1st and boom dead on August 1st. My poor aunt hasn't been out of the house or her nightgown. Not sure what to do to help her.


:Oh crap

what happened?

He broke his kneecap July 1st went and had his knee in a brace, 2 days later he had a 104 temp so off to the family Dr who put him on antibiotics. Then 3 days later he couldn't breath, off to the hospital where they had no clue what was going on boom they flew him to Cooper ( NJ "top" hospital ) they put him in a coma and said he had ARDS. They pump 16 pints of blood into him and it all came right back out.....bleeding from his lungs. He did good for 2 days then boom he was dead. I didn't get to see him and that was the worst thing IMO. My mom didn't even call and let me know what was going on. When she did call she said he was doing better to come up on Wednesday and Monday morning she called I just knew why, it's fucked up. I went up to NJ that Monday.


I wanted to go up on the Friday and now I wish I had just gone and not listened to my mom. I feel like shit knowing I could have been there and I wasn't. I feel like shit that it wasn't me who passed I would trade my life for his in a second. Not sure how to deal with all the guilt I have but it's making me kinda crazy.

its a tough one but I've had 3 sad ones that come to mind.

one was a friend in college that really changed my life my freshman year. was a huge role model to me and he decided right before the end of the year to just leave and go to Florida.

next would be when I came home from college for xmas vacation. I went to visit my grand parents and had this eerie feeling that would be the last time i would see my grandfather. I was walking out and decided to run back up and hug him... just encase. a few weeks later i got a call from my mom that he passed in his sleep.

lastly would be with our family's pet dog. I was home for a bit from LA to visit and when leaving i would always say by to the dog, but recently its health was going down hill and knew she would not be around in a few months. It was really hard and I had to hold back tears as I spent almost 10 years with this dog as my best friend. I knew I was saying goodbye for ever which made it that much harder :(

Wow. Did the knee break cause all this to happen or was it just something that kind of happened at the same time?

My mom has something kind of like this happen with her mom. Her mom had a cyst on her back that had been there for years. It had been tested and wasn't cancerous, but it was annoying. she went in for a minor surgery to have it removed. The surgery went off without a hitch and everything was fine. They operated late in the day on her so she spent the night. The next morning my mom was on her way to pick her up and when she got there she was told that her mom had died. That morning her mom had been doing great and was ready to to go home. Then she suddenly collapsed. It turns out she had a blood clot in her leg (they think) that broke loose (maybe from the surgery) and it made its way to her heart and caused her to have a heart attack.

Pretty sad thread I started here. It is amazing how fragile our lives can be.

I was with a Jehovah's witness and moved to Oregon to be with her. Her family said if I stayed with her they would have to disown her so I left in the middle of the night. I was 19 so I knew she would move on. But sad none the less.

I have no clue nor did the Dr's. All I know is he broke his kneecap on July 1st and was dead on Aug 1st. Go look up ARDS as that's what they say he had.


The other death that hurts nme is my grandmothers, she was in the hospital with bone cancer. The nurse told me she was hanging on till I got there and I had to tell her it was ok to die. That was the most painful thing I have ever had to say..... "It's ok to pass and go be with your mom." The next day she passed and EVERYONE then blamed me for her death cuz I told her to pass.

:Oh crap

damn some of you had it real hard...sorry to hear this.