The beginning of the lasts...

(Written just before we left but it was rambles of my thoughts and I’ve only just had time to sit down and edit it properly!)
It’s a funny period of limbo this last week, everything I do I’m wondering is this the last time I’ll do this.
Walking round the supermarket, picking things up, checking best before dates, that constant awareness of time running out in front of my eyes. Our leaving date is no longer so far in the future that i don’t really make any mental note, but the milk I grabbed yesterday had the date 31/08/19. It feels odd that we will have gone by then, we will be in the midst of yet lag, confusion, wanting to feel more relaxed and less stressed than the last 6 weeks but knowing in fact it’s still going to be hard for a good while.
A friend and I took the kids up Scolty last week for some fresh air, I wanted to just enjoy it as if it was just a normal walk but in the back of my mind I was thinking what if this is the last time I come up here. The paths up the hill are so well worn and engrained in our heads, that the kids even take a different path to adults and race us up... they always win, they opt for the shortest route and we always opt for the longer route to enjoy the peace... it’s a win win situation. (They did have 13 year old, with a phone, with them)

We’ve had last birthdays in this house for a while, last sleepovers, last play dates, last dentist appointments and haircuts, last cinema trips, last bike rides, the cars have both gone, the cats have gone to their new home (I might do another post on that one) .... and one final impromptu ‘last’ drinks with Fyfe’s and Cowie’s💖

The hardest of the ‘lasts’ is the hugs, being given hugs just in case we don’t see each other. I don’t want to think of these as ‘lasts’ just until next time we see you.

Moving onto the next adventure

Long before the children arrived, Chris and I had plans to move to Australia and work, not forever but to experience life in another country where we could walk to the beach, swim in turquoise clear sea and wear summer clothes and flip flops all year round.
But then life just got in the way and the opportunity never really came up, although not without us searching pretty hard for that elusive job overseas. We had an 18 month stint in Houston when the kids were all under 5, we look back on it fondly now but at the time it was incredibly stressful. There's an element of regret in our minds that we didn't stick it out but in hindsight maybe moving with three small children, the youngest at the time was 7 weeks old wasn't the best timing..... but hey ho, you've got to try these things.....and now 15 years after we first started thinking about Australia , a random LinkedIn connection, an oil industry very slowly recovering, a lot of waiting and hoping it might come to something, it is finally happening.
In my mind, most people relocating themselves to the other side of the world give themselves a year or so to plan everything, sell furniture, research everything in finite detail, all while they wait for visa approvals. I think we've had roughly three months from contract being signed to our belongings all packed and sent in advance of us.... my poor head feels like it hasn't stopped to think or process anything for months. Part of me can't wait to get on that plane at the end of August so we can get started with the next adventure, (and maybe the lure of getting kids back to school is also playing a part🤣) while the other part of me desperately wants to fit in as many days out with friends, walks and visits to my parents, hill climbs, river paddling, sand dune surfing and as many cuddles with cats that we can possibly fit in.
We moved to Scotland almost 12 years ago from the southern counties of England. I always assumed England would be where we called 'home', and I love the sandy beaches, red cliff walks, rolling green hills, high hedgerows and narrow lanes of Devon, but I love where we live in Scotland even more. The people, the town we have called home for 12 years, the vast open space of the Cairngorms, the hills and mountains recognisable by the their rocky shapes on the horizon, the grey sparkly granite in the sunshine, the windy, bitterly cold beaches of the North Sea, the huge swaying Scots pines behind our house, the meandering River Dee, Scolty Hill.... but we feel it's time for a new adventure and to give the kids an invaluable experience that'll give them a sense of wonder, excitement and appreciation of the world around them.
It's always going to be hard leaving family and best friends behind, but for those of you finding this particularly hard (you know who you are!) we love you.... maybe we can't have the one too many impromptu glasses of wine together on a Friday evening, or pop over for roast dinner, share our childcare, meet for coffee and scones but we can still chat whenever we need to, send each other virtual hugs, use FaceTime to have a glass of wine together and most importantly we will always have a bedroom or two for you to come and visit.... and we will be back!