... i wish i'd started this blogging caper then...but the move...thousands of miles away with three little kids in tow was just to BIG already...if only i'd got one of the kids to record it all...hee hee
...now, two years later, this big old house & our village life, with the wilds of scotland on our doorstep seem to have become the 'other' part of the five of us....
...the part thats not made up of salt water & shells & surf board wax....& endless sand...
...our kids are two years bigger, older, wiser....two years more travelled & louder...two years more lovely...
...even with the long winters....& i mean really loooong....i wouldn't change the experience for anything in the world....
...we've had hard, really challenging times, i won't lie to you...our first winter here i'm sure i carried the low smothering grey skies on my shoulders for months...it was a little claustrophobic...
...yet this winter has been incredibly exciting- long... but snow filled & exciting...
...waking up to falling snow in your garden...how is that for 'storybook'...heaven...
...when we arrived with our beach towels- well there are beaches in europe!- & high hopes of a great life experience for us all for a bit- we didn't think about the other things that a move brings...
...new friends, new memories, time together....things that make up part of the whole experience...
...we were always going to travel...show the kids this side of the world....& we have...seriously travelled..
...but i don't think we gave much thought to the fact that we would fall in love with the everyday...& we have...big time...
...the everyday involves all things work & child related...as it would anywhere in the world...
...but it also involves all things english...seasons, picnics, summer fairs, vintage china, pub lunches, football, romping walks in wellies,did i say football, seriously gorgeously green countryside & time.....time together...
...so two years into this 'other-side-of-the-world' life we are leading...i find myself happy, busy, challenged, content, & surrounded by the countryside of storybooks, where once it was beaches & sand...
...it won't be our life forever...so at this...our two year mark, i just want to recognise that it is truely an experience to be thankful for...a moment that will shape our family & our kids forever...
...if you're thinking about a change...a move...a new lifestyle...i can't encourage you enough...
...it has it's ups & downs...but thats life...& it is truely the most incredible thing we have, as a family, done so far...
..what d'ya think...for me the kookaburra's will still be waiting...i'll go home to them eventually with a whole other life under my belt...
...two years- thats something to think about....
...don't ya think!...
...see ya....tootles!
A beautiful read darling..and such an achievement..for you and your little ones...just amazing! Hubby and I often talk about if we were to do something like that..where would we go? still deciding on that one? :) x
ReplyDeleteIt takes a great deal of courage and optimism to make the sort of change you have for ALL the family. It also takes the right kind of people.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your two year anniversary, and its success and I hope you have many more happy ones!!
Irene x
This is a lovely happy post Melissa, it all rings so true. I've mentioned you in my last post, which sort of links up to this. Hope you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteSharon
Melissa , you are living my dream except mine is in France. I just dont know how to take my daughter out of a school that is just right for her now. But then I think there will never be a right time ! My son dosent start school until 2012. Next year we are trying to plan a 3 month holiday to France (maybe a few weeks of that in Italy) before our son starts school. I am really enjoying your blog.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 2 years.
Karyn x
Hello there & thanks for your comments.I have been reading your blog but I am also crap when it comes to saying hello!! The sky was amazing, never to be seen again I expect that's why I rushed out to take a photo.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand about the light, although not quite Oz I grew up on the kent coast & saw the sea every day. Even after 8 years I still struggle with the grey!! We have a waterfall outside the house so still kinda get my water fix!!
Take Care & keep in touch.love ur blog btw & if ur ever in Clapham do pop round for tea.I drink it quite often too!!
Rachelle x
What a wonderful encouraging post. We're about to shake our lives up too and I am alternately nauseous and elated!
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm new to this blogging thing but just read 2 novels which were blog - based: one of them Julie & Julia...it's cool because you don't have to write something everyday just when you have something to say. And Miss let's face it - you almost always have something to say! I miss hearing your takes on about life the universe and everything.
ReplyDeleteWe've now been back in Aus nearly as long as we were in England - 7 years!!!! can you believe. I'd love to live in Europe again, maybe when the kids are at University...have a little flat in London...walk along the Thames, catch a show in Covent Garden, holidays to the Continent...awesome, lap it all up: the good and the wet! How are you ever going to leave the cat?
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