Facing the Truth

Damn, saying goodbye to this child is killing me even more than I predicted. He's making it hard on purpose, the little punk, cuz it's easier to lie than to face the truth. I've been struggling to find some words to help him understand all this, but it's hard. He's just a kid. But maybe "you are strong enough to face the truth" are some words that he'll understand. I'm going to tell him that he can choose to be strong enough to face the truth and truth is this: that he is scared to leave and sad to leave, and that he's going to miss us as much as we're going to miss him (honestly, more, of course) But scared and sad aren't very acceptable emotions for baby homies, so I understand the need to lie, but I'm going to flip this screwed up version of masculinity on its pathetic ass and help this child be sad and scared and admit to those feelings and stop acting out lies like "I hate it here anyway, and I don't want to be here anyway." Cuz that kinda nonsense is making it too hard on me. Am I just selfish? Should I let him create his little lie of a fantasy world so it will be easier for him. No, cuz I really believe that it takes more strength to tell the truth and I still, even though we're down to our final days together, want him to learn this important kind of strength. It's okay to feel sad, it's okay to feel scared, and it's even okay to express these feelings.