There are two types of goodbyes. There is an "I'll see you again" goodbye and there is an "I wish you were still breathing" goodbye.
An example of an "I'll see you again" goodbye is as follows...
Two girls arrive at an airport after a weekend of catching up on childhood memories. One will stay. The other will get on a plane to go back home. The two girls work together to print off a boarding pass. They concentrate really hard on that task to try to avoid the uncontrollable tears that are sure to spill during the pending goodbye. The boarding pass is acquired and they know they can no longer put off the goodbye. They turn to each other and without saying anything, they both start crying and embrace each other. They pull back and one of them tries to stop the tears by saying, "Well. I guess we'll see each other in the summer and college." The tears start coming again and the other girl quickly pulls her friend for a hug and says in a tear strained voice, "Busybeth..." That nickname alone was enough to make the other girl's heart break. They say their final goodbyes and go back to their separate lives.
The other goodbye is one a farm girl is all too familiar with. An example of an "I wish you were still breathing" goodbye is as follows...
The girl goes up to the farm and immediately calls for her favorite cat, the only reason she comes up to the farm to do chores. "Butter Meow," she cries, but she gets no response. He's probably out hunting or something, the girl thinks to herself. The next day she goes through the same calling process, but she is still not greeted by the silky smooth, creamy orange fur of her beloved cat. She is starting to miss the way he purrs when he snuggles close to her heart. He loves being held and sitting around her neck. Several more days pass, but she still does not see him. Then one day, as she is being driven to the airport by her mom, she sees an animal on the side of the road near their woods. She quickly glances at the cat and instantly knows in her heart that her cat is no more. She refuses to believe it, so the next day when she is talking with her sister, she tells her to look for Butter. She comes back home, the dead cat is still on the road, and Butter is still nowhere to be found. The tail on the dead cat is the same as Butter's. She does not cry. She is bigger than that. She is a senior in high school for goodness sake. She has had to say goodbye to multiple cats, a dog, several calves, and a few relatives already. What more is one more cat? She says a silent goodbye in her heart, cries in solitude, and vows to not love an animal so much the next time like she always does after an animal dies. That vow is never fulfilled and her heart continues to ache.
Now which goodbye is more difficult? They both hurt so much and kill you each time you say a goodbye. One goodbye is temporary and although it hurts, the hurt will eventually leave because you know that person is still alive. The other goodbye is permanent unless you're saying it to a Christian. It is still permanent for the animal. You will never have another animal to fill that void in your heart. You can try to replace it with thousands of other animals, but each animal is different and fills another part of your heart. Your heart never runs out of space for new people or animals, but once they are gone, they leave holes that stay in your heart forever. They can never be replaced. That is the goodbye that is more difficult. The "I wish you were still breathing" goodbye tears a hole that can never be filled in your heart.
