Big Moves

So much has happened in the last two months and there’s so much to catch you all up with. Let’s start with the big things.

We moved countries! Again!

I know, I know. Didn’t she just move to the US? I hear you ask. It certainly feels like that, but here we are back in Australia now.

When the primary income earner gets a job offer he simply can’t refuse [you know I’m going to find a Godfather gif now], you go with the terms of the employment contract.

In six weeks, four of which were just me and the kids because … well… the primary income earner had to go earn the primary income on the other side of the world, we packed bag and baggage, got our house ready for sale, sold three vehicles, faced the death of one dog, and the realities of a four month separation from the other dog. Then we all travelled for 34.5 hours (nearly 27 hours in actual flight time) to the other side of the world. It was an unusually quick move, even by expat standards, and there was a lot of emotional upheaval that went into it.

I made hurried plans to meet people I’d formed intimate online friendships with. These are people I love, people I will defend, people I learn so much from, people I share deep secrets with, people I laugh uproariously with, and would, in a heart beat, start a colony with. And many of them are also people I’ve never shared the same physical space with. If you’re still living with the delusion that online friendships are not as strong, as compelling, as fierce as in-person friendships, I assure you it ain’t so. These are friendships I can and do take with me to the corners of the Earth. The thought of being on the other side of the world, and half a day away from people who have sustained me intellectually, emotionally and creatively for four years was confronting. There’s no way to dress this up; I sulked. Like a petulant toddler. But the reality of our lives is that the move back to Australia was really in all of our best interests.

Aside from a wonderful career opportunity, it’s also an opportunity for Godzilla and the TeenWolf to return to a pace of life and a breadth of experience that suits them so much better. And if I’m honest, it’s also excellent timing for me to return to an ageing parent, desperately missed siblings, and extraordinary friends I’ve known almost my entire life. Nobody tell my husband I said this! I’m not ready to come out of my tantrum just yet.

So, here we are. Starting again, and also not starting again because we’ve returned to our home town.