People experience loss, separation. Farewells are never easy and people perceive it to be the ending of the story. But is it?

What people fail to see is that endings are but beginnings. Goodbyes are actually saying hello, separation is growing. Though apart and far, it does not point to an ending but a lasting experience growing in different directions.

There's No Such Place As Far Away seems to be a children's book. But knowing Richard Bach, a celebrated American Writer of works that speak philosophy and higher consciousness, expect an anthology of wisdom beautifully expositioned in a short story.

Rae Hansen invited Richard Bach to her 5th birthday. Thousand of miles separate the two of them and yet nothing would stop Richard Bach to see her friend. The books is but an opening of spiritual journey that delivered “Rae's anxiously awaited guest to her side on that special day”.

In his journey on his way to Rae's birthday, he came across the hummingbird, the owl, the eagle, and the hawk, . He would happily tell each “Little Rae is growing up and I'm going to her birthday party with a present.” And as he share to each of these creatures this statement, he receives new insights about Rae- a friend, a little girl about to have her 5th birthday. Hence, upon flying with Seagull, the most wisest of all, he has learned a valuable lesson about truth, love, and friendship.

Finally, he arrives to his destination and gave Rae the greatest gift of all. A ring that sparkles so brightly and which only Rae can see. She can be anyone who she wants to be, and when she feels lonely, all she has to do is wear the ring.

The simplicity of There's No Place Like Far Away, teaches us something---”Can miles truly separate you from friends....If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?” The absence of one person is not the measurement for friendship or of love for each other. True relationships lie not on separation. Miles can never separate two individuals. The memory of each and the connection despite the geography matters.

Relationships of modern times is represented by the physical presence of the other. We fail to see that the beauty of a real relationship lies in the heart. We cry, we feel anxious, we feel lost upon the loss or upon the non-existence of another but we fail to see the true gift of a relationship. It is beyond tin and glass that wears out through time.

Rae is not so little anymore, because she too is growing in her own pace--exploring the world. She no longer have birthdays because she is living her life in every moment. She grows not in the presence of Richard Bach, but would not mean that she is not part of him or him part of her. For sometimes, in our quest for the truth we have to fly above the clouds and in getting there we meet people, significant in that moment, a moment that shall define our growth and a moment lasting beyond our comprehension.

In a lifetime, we meet a lot of people. We share our lives with them. Some die, some pursue another direction, and some just disappear. Then we ask ourselves, can all this circumstances make a person vanish fully in our lives. Is not the thought or the memory of the person enough to inspire you to happiness? Happiness and fulfillment does not lie in the tangible, it lies in those that are not seen. Hence, Bach shares this ultimate truth to all of his readers.

“This is one of those rare books that has a timeless message and a simple beauty which belie its brevity. You can read this book in ten minutes. And, you can re-read it a hundred times and feel differently about it each time. Consider it the abridged Jonathon Livingston Seagull, but don't think of it as leaving out anything of importance. I particularly like this book because, in a few minutes, it helps me remember some of the simple truths of life - that time and space cannot separate us from the one's we love...”-Review