The Ghosts of Octobers Past, Present, and Future

This October has been relatively boring, when I look at our recent posts, partly because I was sick for several weeks, and partly because we have a toddler and little getaways are trickier than they used to be.

Looking back at old October blog posts from a few years ago...

2014 - Driving the Great Ocean Road, Skydiving over Wollongong, Mixed Nationals Tournament in Townsville and Magnetic Island

2015 - Sculpture by the Sea, Mixed Nationals Tournament in Adelaide

2016 - Mixed Nationals Tournament near Sydney, Cousin Lizzy's visit, Byron Bay, PAX Aus

We have had some busy Octobers. As our time winds down here, it's kind of anti-climactic. There's nothing wrong with that; I think maybe it's indicative of the fact that in our first few years here, we didn't know how long we would be here. So we took every chance to go to new places and explore Australia. Now, after six years of being here, we have been to every state and territory and met all of our live abroad and travel experience goals, and then some. We have made many new friends, and some of the closest ones have already moved out of the area. I wish there was some way we could have one big reunion before we go, with a lot of the ones that have left, but we will have to find some other way to make that happen. We are hoping to have a nice little send-off with the friends who are still here.

The one thing that is driving me crazy about moving back is trying to set up childcare for Penelope when I return to work full-time. There are still a lot of possibilities, but no one definite thing that is happening. We are fairly sure that even if we don't have something worked out immediately, we will be able to scrape together enough help for the first month or so. That's not good enough for me, but I continue to search and follow up about waitlists. Obviously, people move all the time and are able to make it work, so surely we should be able to. It's just a busy and competitive area, so almost anywhere that is worth it has a waitlist, and those could mean you have a spot tomorrow or never. I'm suspicious of anywhere that doesn't have a waitlist, but when you need a spot you need a spot I have a high standard for early childhood education, being an educator, and I would hate to have to send our child to a place that isn't great, just because we have few options. Hopefully, everything will resolve in the near future. 

I've been listening to some "This American Life" podcasts, to remind myself fondly of some of the "American-ness" we will be returning to. Even though we are kind of in this limbo state where we are preparing for this big move, and I can't process much beyond the move until it has happened, I'm looking forward to what will be next after it. We will be able to spend a lot more time with family without having to travel so far to see them. We can actually use our vacation days for vacations. We will be able to reconnect with old friends. Penelope will have a lot of playmates through our family and friends, and I think the little social butterfly will enjoy getting to know everyone.  I will have a more consistent job than I had in all of my six years here. While I pretty consistently had work here, the work was very different from day to day and I traveled all over the Sydney area. The variety was great, and I learned a lot, and now I can appreciate the idea of working at the same place every day. Like, the simple idea that I can leave an umbrella and other personal items there to use whenever I need them at my work, rather than being a bag woman and carrying everything I might need with me at all times, sounds pretty nice. 

I've been told that when you move abroad, and then move back, you go through all the same culture shock and adjusting all over again, even though it's back to a familiar place and culture. We have that to look forward to.