on our way

in several hours, we'll board a plane bound for london.  during the flight, we'll stop in singapore and our total time en route will be about 24 hours.  for anyone who's traveled, you know the funny feeling of waking in one place only to anticipate resting your head in a place far away, another continent.  we'll cross time zones, hemispheres and seasons.  from winter we will join the end of summer and the blazing heat of august.  strange.

a summary of our months in australia is difficult.  certainly this chapter of our lives exceeded our hopes and imagination.  during the last week, at random times, memories have flooded my mind as i must be subconsciously filing away our experiences here and preparing to move on.

i leave with gratitude - great appreciation for the love and hospitality of geoff's parents, for the opportunities and friendship extended to us from forge, the welcome of the local footscray church, the vulnerability and belonging to relationships with old and new friends, the many experiences in the beautiful city of melbourne.

i leave with a divided heart - throughout the period of our living here, we have missed home and yet fully loved being here.  coexisting emotions.  with painful goodbyes, we leave immediate family and accept that a lot of time will pass before we see one another again.  a desire to arrive home, the place we belong, to family and friends, is as strong  and we feel great anticipation for the weeks to come.

i leave with greater understanding - when i arrived in january, it was my personal hope to better understand my husband and for a short time look at the world through australian eyes.  after being married for seven years, in the recent months i've made significant leaps in comprehending what has shaped geoff, what makes him laugh, what operates deeply in his world view.  i look at this culture (one that i often idealized from afar) with much more balance.  i see weaknesses and shortfalls.  i can admit that here too there are problems and bad habits.  despite that, however, i love this place and these people and i could never have achieved a shade of this newfound, rich understanding without our extended time here.  and i've only just scratched the surface.