It’s been in the works for a long time. She’d mentioned it more than a year ago. It was good news, of course. She’d met someone, she was getting married again, she was moving to Staten Island.

Still, now that it is actually happening, well, it doesn’t seem quite right that I won’t be seeing Jacqueline—on Seventh Avenue, at one school or another, at various Park Slope events—anymore.

When someone special moves away from a community like Park Slope, it’s like losing a vital piece of the eclectic mosaic that makes this neighborhood tick.

For as long as I can remember, Jacqueline has been part of the texture of Park Slope and an active participant in so many aspects of life here. A mother of two, a working professional, and an environmental activist, this daughter of a jazz basoonist was hard to miss.

Indeed, this statuesque, beautiful woman with the big dark eyes and a bold intelligence has made her mark.

As she writes in her own good bye to the neighborhood on Facebook, “I’ve been a part of so many worlds in my time here — the vibrant group of women that made up our Megamom’s group, the dedicated group of people who fought with me for 4 years in Parents for Climate Protection, my wonderful myoho brothers and sisters, the Italian playgroup, the community of singers in the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, the friends I made as part of the 321 community, my shift-buddies from the Food Coop.”

It is really quite remarkable how much she accomplished while she was here and she will not be forgotten by the people who shared the many worlds she interacted with.

While we understood that a transition was imminent, it is still not easy to accept that Saturday is the day she will cross the Verrazano Bridge with her beautiful girls and her fiancee and make the move to Staten Island. It is always tough to say good bye. And for Jacqueline: it’s difficult to leave the site of so many memories—even for greener pastures.

As she writes so eloquently, “This morning as I walked Sofia to school for the last time, nodding to familiar faces of neighbors, greeting the crossing guard, checking out the freebies on the stoops, enjoying the shade of the big old trees, I felt that I loved this neighborhood like never before. I’m going to miss these streets that I know so well — in that courtyard, Julia pretended she was on a carousel; that crack in the sidewalk is what made Sofia fall off her scooter and skin her knees; that’s the house Rino used to live in; there’s the coffee shop where the moms and kids would meet after school; and on and on, a memory on each corner.”

But let’s not get too carried away. She is, after all, only moving to Staten Island. It’s really not that far away. She will be back to visit of that I am certain. She writes, “Yes, I am leaving quite a lot this coming Saturday, but there is also quite a lot waiting for me on the other side of the Verrazzano. My fiancee loves Park Slope as much as I do after spending so much time here during our “courtship,” and of course my parents are here, so I expect to be spending a lot of time here after the move. So Park Slopers, this is not goodbye. I’ll see you soon.”

Au Revoir Jacqueline: We will miss you.