Well, I can't believe we've been here for nearly 4 months!!! Billy is absolutely loving working here! He is home so much and spends so much more time with me and the kids. He also helps tremendously with homework, grocery shopping and cooking. I can't imagine ever giving him back to the hours and stress levels he had in the states.
The school kids are doing really well. All have settled nicely and seem to be quite content here. Three are playing soccer (Kaigan helps coach), two are riding and we're looking at swim lessons/team for two. Days are short now and it rains quite a lot but they truly seem happy.
Kaigan is honestly quite ready to return to the states for university. I believe that his shyness and the knowledge that he is soon leaving makes him reluctant to make friends here. This is compounded by the fact that he works very seldom and often is the only one in the office, and not being in school here, has few resources for meeting people. He did get to go flying with a guy from church and even flew the plane for a few minutes! I'm determined, however, to send him on a trip or tour of NZ so that come August he doesn't feel like he sacrificed graduating with his class for nothing. That is the one thing I do regret. I wish we had waited til now to move so that he could have graduated. He did choose the graduating early but we never should have asked him to make that decision.
That leaves me... My emotions are on a roller coaster. Fortunately I'm on an upswing the last few days but the couple weeks prior were pretty rough. I guess once everyone else was feeling settled and no longer distracting me from from me, I suddenly had to go through MY adjustment period. Waiting for our belongings to arrive, getting the house settled, getting the kids settled in school and trying to cope with Billy's initial nervousness of a whole new country's protocols and procedures in medicine, filming HHI all had me so distracted from myself that when things finally quieted down, I was faced with the reality of being here. Don't get me wrong: I have no regrets about moving here at all (just WHEN we moved). It's just that the adjustment period for me was delayed and I found myself rather depressed. The weather and seeing everyone in the states on FB enjoying the coming of spring didn't help either. I would try to nail down exactly what I was feeling or what I wanted but I was just at a loss. It made me realize how difficult it must be for the kids when I couldn't even articulate my own emotions. Adjusting to city life, living in a neighborhood has been the hardest for me. I miss the farm soooo very much. Going from not being able to see another house from ours to being able to see INTO the neighbors' houses through our windows is a huge deal! I worry that the dogs disturb them, I feel like they can see me dressing and I fear they'll hear me ranting like a lunatic at the kids. Most of all, I miss being able to walk out my front door, in my pajamas if I want, and go love on my horses. And to top it all off, I can hear the clock and calender clicking away the time til I bring Kaigan back for school. Thoughts of that in and of itself brings tears every time. Going back in general seems like will just reopen old wounds with new goodbyes all over again.
One of the high points for me in recent weeks was riding on the beach, full speed on an off-the-track thoroughbred. My dear neighbor connected me with a friend of hers who has 2 horses and no one to ride with him. Pete has taken me twice now and I just love it! I ride his 5 year old gelding, Marty, that's only been off the track for barely 2 years. The beach where we ride is virtually deserted and it is absolutely gorgeous! Pete is in a hunt club and I'm hoping he'll take me along on a hunt sometime. Marty's only been to 2 hunts but I'm game so bring it on!
We've bought a horse for Brylie and have room where we keep her for another horse or two. AND it's riding distance to the beach!!! If money permits, Mikaylie and I will each get one then the three of us can go riding together. There are also other horse ladies there that I will be able to ride with when the girls are at school.
I've sorta kinda been horse hunting but until we know what we need to do for Kaigan's tuition, I'll likely wait. Until then, I just hope Pete keeps calling.
I've been working on compiling a bunch of things that I find interesting about living here. I'll try not to wait a whole month before blogging again.
No comments:
Post a Comment