Two year ago, we arrived in New Zealand.
The journey here was 39 years in the making for me and as some one who hates to travel light, I brought all my wonderful, well earned experiences and ‘baggage’ with me.
In the months prior, I moved out of my flat in London, stayed in a friend’s in Brighton, traveled solo to Anglesea, Wales then flew ‘home’ for 6+ weeks, renting a house in Bellport and spending time with family and friends. I had over 2 months of travel, to rest, regroup and prepare for my next adventure.
Rodney arrived for his first trip to New York and we were total tourists. We then planned a few days in Santa Barbara to have some time together before boarding the flight to New Zealand.
While in Santa Barbara, the reality of this huge move started to truly hit me. We went to this quaint winery, with all of these amazing life-quotes hung on the walls. They were like words of wisdom and focused me.
During our ride to the airport, the top was down on the rented convertible because we couldn’t fit the luggage in any other way. The breeze was that Southern California foggy cold and I developed the worst case of heart burn I’d ever experienced. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get on the flight as I hunched over the bags on my lap and tried to heal myself. The symbolism of an excruciating case of heartburn when I was leaving my family and friends to journey to what to me was a ‘foreign land’ did not go unnoticed. This was a big move, serious stuff.
Two years later, we’ve started to recover from such a ‘big move’. We have a lovely group of friends, get such wonderful support from Rod’s family, have built our dream business, live in a gorgeous house, have fallen in love with our little yellow dog…but for me the heartache of being far from family and life-long friends is a true immigrant weight that I carry daily. I write to express what is happening at the House, here on this blog, in a small way to connect with all who are far from me.
Two years…a lot has happened, and we celebrate and honor all of it. This amazing land is no longer ‘foreign’ to me and the world continues to get smaller as my rich ‘baggage’ of experience and relationships gets bigger.