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Monday, January 24, 2011

Being away from home...

I fell like I've been away from home forever - with 5.5 months in South America and then only 4.5 months at home before we were away again (which has been for 6 months already, I can hardly believe it!)...

All of the travel I've done has been not entirely planned, surprising and a fabulous experience.  And, don't get me wrong I understand that I live a charmed life.  I'm a very lucky girl in very many ways, comfortable in my own skin, loved by friends, family and my partner, successful in my work, etc...

But, and of course, there was going to be a but...  I'm missing so many things, there's the apartment we set up our first home in for such a short time in Melbourne, the simple things like being able to read all of the labels in the supermarket and not having to concentrate every moment in there.  There's the aforementioned friends and family.  And there's all the events around them - I'm at an age where my friends are all at an 'Oh' birthday (that's a birthday that ends with an 0), and there are new babies being had and children passing - well just even day to day life that I'm missing out on.

It's hard - really hard, I'm the youngest (by 18 months to my oldest classmate) of my friends in the 'Oh' age bracket - and my 'Oh' birthday falls in June.  By then, I'll have missed everyone else's (I mostly already have)...  So, when there was the opportunity to celebrate with one of my Ozzie colleagues her 'Oh' birthday a week and a half or so ago, it was really important to me that she had a good one...  So, I was perhaps overwhelming (but I hope not overbearing) in my enthusiasm.  It was so nice to have something to celebrate and I guess in part make up for all the things I feel like I'm missing out on at home...

Here's some pics of the card I made for us all to sign to go with our group gift:

 




And here are the balloons we (mostly our Swedish and Norwegian colleagues) blew up all over her desk:
 

I had a lovely couple of days celebrating with her - both in the office and again on the weekend out for dinner and drinks, and raised a glass to all those friends who's 'Oh' birthdays I've missed in the last 12 months - I hope that you all had fabulous celebrations!

1 comment:

  1. Sending you big hugs. I totally understand how you must be feeling. It's not easy at all sometimes, especially being in a country that is completely foreign to the one you're used to. That ease of being disappears. Just try and remember that after every sad day comes a glad day! It's such a beautiful card that you created. I'm sure it made her day very special. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Monday, January 24, 2011

Being away from home...

I fell like I've been away from home forever - with 5.5 months in South America and then only 4.5 months at home before we were away again (which has been for 6 months already, I can hardly believe it!)...

All of the travel I've done has been not entirely planned, surprising and a fabulous experience.  And, don't get me wrong I understand that I live a charmed life.  I'm a very lucky girl in very many ways, comfortable in my own skin, loved by friends, family and my partner, successful in my work, etc...

But, and of course, there was going to be a but...  I'm missing so many things, there's the apartment we set up our first home in for such a short time in Melbourne, the simple things like being able to read all of the labels in the supermarket and not having to concentrate every moment in there.  There's the aforementioned friends and family.  And there's all the events around them - I'm at an age where my friends are all at an 'Oh' birthday (that's a birthday that ends with an 0), and there are new babies being had and children passing - well just even day to day life that I'm missing out on.

It's hard - really hard, I'm the youngest (by 18 months to my oldest classmate) of my friends in the 'Oh' age bracket - and my 'Oh' birthday falls in June.  By then, I'll have missed everyone else's (I mostly already have)...  So, when there was the opportunity to celebrate with one of my Ozzie colleagues her 'Oh' birthday a week and a half or so ago, it was really important to me that she had a good one...  So, I was perhaps overwhelming (but I hope not overbearing) in my enthusiasm.  It was so nice to have something to celebrate and I guess in part make up for all the things I feel like I'm missing out on at home...

Here's some pics of the card I made for us all to sign to go with our group gift:

 




And here are the balloons we (mostly our Swedish and Norwegian colleagues) blew up all over her desk:
 

I had a lovely couple of days celebrating with her - both in the office and again on the weekend out for dinner and drinks, and raised a glass to all those friends who's 'Oh' birthdays I've missed in the last 12 months - I hope that you all had fabulous celebrations!

1 comment:

  1. Sending you big hugs. I totally understand how you must be feeling. It's not easy at all sometimes, especially being in a country that is completely foreign to the one you're used to. That ease of being disappears. Just try and remember that after every sad day comes a glad day! It's such a beautiful card that you created. I'm sure it made her day very special. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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