Time to move

We moved into our new house a couple of days before Christmas and spent the holidays unpacking, buying all the things we needed and learning what it meant to live in the country. The weather was awful. It was cold and foggy for the first three days and we could not believe that this was Christmas in the country. We put up temporary curtains and used the heater instead of the air conditioner! The washing machine died and I had to wash everything by hand. The TV also didn’t work and as it was the Christmas holidays we could not get someone in to fix it for two weeks. Needless to say the girls were not amused. This was it, we had moved to a small village in the country, had no idea what our new life was going to be like and there was so much work to do around the house. We knew no one, I could not see very well and did not know how we were going to manage when Peter went back to work?

The magnitude of what we had done hit me one night when I was having a chat with a very unhappy Emily. The house didn’t feel like home. It wasn’t the house she had grown up in and she didn’t want to be here, away from her friends and the life she knew. What were we thinking? We had changed our whole life and moved to a lifestyle we knew nothing about. We took the girls away from their friends and the life they grew up with. It was easy to say to them. ‘We will keep in touch with your friends.’

The reality was a bit different as I was not able to drive, Peter was away a lot and their friend’s families were just as busy as we were. They did phone their friends, talk on MSN and write letters. We did try to organise for them to catch up with their friends whenever we were in Canberra and during school holidays.

It was important for us to move to Majors Creek at the time we did because of the kid’s school age. They were going into year seven and nine at school and we thought it would be easier to move then rather than a year or two later when they were getting into senior years of high school. The girls had been quite positive about moving until a couple of months before we were due to leave. They were getting upset about leaving their friends, going to a small country school and not knowing anyone. We did our best to reassure them and we took them to the school for a meeting with the deputy principal. He showed them around the school and told them how the school operated and they came home from that meeting feeling a bit more relaxed. As we went out to purchase their uniform and all the other items they needed we were very aware to let them be in charge of the purchases they made so that they were comfortable with everything they bought. We left them to it at the Hyperdome with a large amount of money and a very long shopping list. We went off to an eye specialist appointment and met them a few hours later. They had done very well and were ready for school and had bought lots of items to decorate their rooms.

The kids in Majors Creek are picked up by a school bus and the bus stop is at the end of our street. On the first day we offered to drive them but they wanted to go on the bus. We insisted on walking down with them but were given strict instructions not to be at the bus stop when they came home. Peter and I were a bit anxious during the day, as we knew if they didn’t like school we could be in a bit of trouble. They finally came home and were very chatty about the bus, the school, their teachers, some girls they had met and we knew they were going to be ok.

We did it all. We sold our house in Canberra and built a new one, Peter changed jobs to one where he travelled a fair bit, I could not see very well and took leave from my job, the girls changed schools and we left the city and moved to the country. All of these things are at the top of the list of the most stressful times in our lives and we did it all at once! I was on an emotional rollercoaster with my eyesight drama and dealing with the changes this made to my life and I was menopausal! When we decided to move my sight wasn’t great but we never dreamed it would get worse and I would be nearly blind by the time we moved. We were sure this was the right move for our family and I guess time will tell.