I never thought I’d start crying in a gym full of people as the clock counted down the final seconds. But these days goodbyes are becoming more frequent because that’s what happens as you grow up, and perhaps it’s making me more sentimental. I was always the one who could stand there dry-eyed while everyone else cried, but not anymore. I told her how I sat there and thought about how long we’d been teammates, how it’s been six years practically and now here she is leaving before I do, and suddenly we were both crying the hardest while the rest of the room watched us. I keep thinking about how I’m going to miss having her next to me on the field this year. How over the years we came to have this understanding where we could anticipate each other’s movements, on the court or the field, sensing each other in this unspoken way.  This has been a bittersweet week of constant reminders of all the goodbyes I’m going to be saying soon, of realizing I’m going to actually miss this place I’ve been trying to get away from for so long.