Sharing a Special Goodbye
The main thing for that beautiful goodbye is to draw a balance between controlling your emotions, yet wishing them a heartfelt farewell and sweetest goodbye blessings on their journey. Best not to overwhelm them with your intense feelings, remember a sad party is no party at all.
The occasion may require an intimate farewell - intimate in the sense of being fully present in the moments you have with that person. If you are able to express yourself in words - a poem or speech - then well and good. If you are shy of telling them in person, your feelings can be expressed in a letter and given to the person to read later. If you can't express your feelings like this, a small gift with an engraved phrase, or even something small and symbolic will do - it will still mean a lot to the person. For example, before travelling for a year, my boyfriend gave me a perfect, beautiful shell he found on the ocean floor while he had been diving - it was simple and romantic. It was only a shell but it came with a lovely story, and I thought about him diving for me whenever I looked at it. I carried it everywhere until he came back. If you are deeply connected, simple things have great significance. In the book "Last Seen in Lhasa" by Claire Scobie, soul-friends Claire and Ani promise "that every full moon we would think of each other and send love. It seemed a pragmatic - if somewhat sentimental - way to stay connected as it could be years before we met again." But you may not actually need words for a special goodbye. For those of you who find it hard to express how you feel in words, remember that actions speak louder than words.
Go to a quiet old haunt that you shared, like a riverside, park, or the roof of your apartment building. Anywhere to contemplate the environment around you, whether natural or urban. Set up chairs, crack open a drink, watch the sun set or rise - be fully present, and soak up the life between the words. Talk about the future and what it will hold for both of you now. Take pleasure in the view, the refreshments and the company. Or if this is too intense.... Activity-based farewell? 
Your special goodbye can be any activity that slows time or has reverence, like a tea ceremony, or fishing. Or activities where they can leave their mark, like painting a mural or carving into a tree (especially if there are children leaving too). If you find it hard to tell them how much you'll miss them, then an activity like this is ideal for you. Or the activity can be nostalgic, like a twilight (the magic hour) local tour of your/their personal sacred sites describing shared memories...for example, "this is where we had that party where you kissed that guy - whatever happened to him? - and this is the dental clinic where you made me drive you to that appointment where there was a fire alarm and we had to be evacuated in the middle of your root canal" etc.
You don't need to over-egg the pudding; sometimes the simplest things are the best, as the dearest people won't need a lot to understand how you feel. If you want to take some focus off their leaving, a non-farewell activity, like ten-pin bowling, going to an art gallery or having a round of golf is a good distraction while still spending time with that person. Special goodbye party Some suggestions that show them how special they are:
Do you have good ideas for a special farewell? Share it! From Special Goodbye to Sad Goodbye
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