Pineapple and Beans, Reuben is Leaving

Do you have any food that both appeals to you and sort of grosses you out at the same time?  Something where you have to eat part of it, a part which you don't really enjoy, but you do it to get to the good stuff?  It's like a 4D memory.  I feel the chewing and the tasting and the distastefulness, waiting to get to that delicious part.  I think I eat the first part because it's good for me and because you have to get through it to get to the good stuff.  And I think that might also be how I'm feeling about my son leaving on his mission.  It's like piano practice, which ranges from deep discomfort to utter torture, especially when I am overseeing it and not just doing it.  I really don't like it.  It doesn't feel good.  My mom used to make this dish when I was a kid.  It was pork and beans with hot dogs and pineapple.  The pineapple mixed in truly grossed me out, but we had to eat what we were served.  So, I always ate it first.  And then I could enjoy the other two ingredients.  Some people eat what they like first and save the yucky stuff for the end, but that's not my style.  I like to get the ick out of the way.  

But, sending a child on a mission isn't really like eating a bowl of soup with zucchini in it, which I can only tolerate in it's celestialized form.  Savory zucchini is DISGUSTING.  What is wrong with your tastebuds?  Yes, I'm probably talking to you, because you probably like zucchini. Most of you do. If it isn't hiding in bread or cake, NO THANK YOU.  But, I digress.  The point here is that when I get a bowl of soup with zucchini in it, I pick that out and eat it all first. The same with tomatoes.  I like to get it over with. The other point is that my son is leaving. 

How do you do that with your kid leaving for 2 years?  And not seeing him AT ALL the whole time?  How do you get past the part with only 4 phone calls total and weekly emails to let you know your child isn't dead? How do you forge through and focus on the good?  

For two years? 

I'm not asking this in a hypothetical way.  I really want to know.  A lot of you have done this and have some answers.  

Please share them.  

Sending him away to college was hard enough. Watching my 8 year old open the program at church every Sunday and start bawling when she sees his missionary information already in there is harder still.  He hasn't even left yet and she is mourning.  

He's speaking in church tomorrow. His last day of work is Thursday.  His birthday is the next week.  And then he'll be gone.  He won't see his brother, his best friend, for 3 or 4 years. That is the hardest part of all.  

This is like BEING PREGNANT.  I hate being pregnant, by the way.  It's for a really good cause, but it's so dang hard. 

Somebody, please teach me to like eating pineapple in beans.