Good Bye, I Love You

Bernice, my Facebook friend had a post about how shocked she was about her co-worker's exclamation that she was sick of hearing, "God Bless You," as a good-bye.

Well, it made me smile because it reminded me of a story. It is the custom in my family to say, "Good-bye, I Love You." We say it on the telephone. We sign our e-mails and tweets, that way. We say it upon leaving the house. In fact, it has become so commonplace that it really means nothing. It's like saying "Have a nice day."

One day at work, I answered the telephone to what turned out to be a wrong number. I relayed the information that this was not the correct number and automatically finished with, "Good bye, I love you."

huh.....

You know what he said?

"I love you, too!"

We laughed and hung up.

I think this is what Bernice's co-worker was trying to articulate. "God bless you," as good-bye, has become as trite as "Have a nice day."

Not that we should stop saying, "Good bye, I love you," or "God bless you," or even "Have a nice day;" they're good sentiments. But when one is in a foul mood, any cheery well wish gets on your nerves.

Say it any way.

"Have a good one."