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A sense of place
By ella | July 14, 2008
It’s early May. The baby is seven weeks old and I have surprised myself with how easy I am finding it, how well I am coping. It’s a fragile balance though, I feel the need to remind myself, mindful of how insidiously post-partum depression can creep up on you. A couple of bad nights, bad behaviour from the children, trouble with homeschooling, sickness or any of those routine things that go with having a family can quickly turn happy days into something a lot less pleasant.
But no, I sit with my coffee, older children working on their maths, toddler engrosed in a jigsaw puzzle, baby asleep in his swing chair. Beautiful children, with their heads bent in concentration, the days passing in a blur of busyness and fun. Not only that but I have the easiest baby ever. I live in a lovely house in what must surely be one of the most beautiful places in England. I have a wonderful support network of friends, mothers who understand what life is like with a new baby in the house, friends I have known for years rather than just months. Both my parents and my sister and her children live close by and I love being able to see them regularly, to be part of their lives. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere and it has been wonderful to put down roots, to finally think of somewhere as home.
All is well, I think.
Until Matthew comes home and tells me he thinks we should move.
Five thousand miles away.
************
Where are we going? Well let’s just say that I will be a regular reader of the SVMoms blog from now on.
It’s not that I wouldn’t like to live there, I would. It’s just that it’s not here…
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Categories: Expat
Oh my god! That’s a rather huge change! Are you going to go?
Yes. We’re waiting for visas.
But I’m in denial about it, in the vague hope that it may not happen.
Oh, holy cow. Assuming it’s a great career move for Matthew, how can it be managed to be least painful for you and the brood? Kids will adapt (we moved when our daughter was 4) but parenting through the madness . . . Wishing you good luck, and lots of other good things.
As far as managing, there are two words which mean the difference between this being not too painful and me being a desperate wreck: relocation consultants.
They’d better be good is all I can say.
One bit of good luck, as you’ve probably heard, is that house prices are down-down-down in your destination.
Consultants sounds good. And yes, they’d better BE good.
Hope the consultants are great. And you’ll prob find that the home schooling ethos is better for you - or that the schools are nicer!
geepeemums last blog post..More random catching-up sort of stuff….
Hope that all things will work as just as they are meant to. I know all too well about moving with kids…We’ve done it three times now. Of course because of the way the housing market is here we would be unable to sell our house, anyway, so husband knows it’s not an option. Funny though, because he often talks of moving to England or Scotland!
Kristens last blog post..A couple more and we’ll have a proper band
geepeemum has a great point. When you were struggling with schools, I kept think “surely there’s a hippy crunchy school somewhere where the teachers and kids are KIND . . .” and on the Left Coast you should be able to find something like that, if you want it.
Really? I have it in my head that homeschooling is so popular in the US because the schools are pretty awful. It would be great to find just the right kind of school. Especially as the California homeschool laws seem to be in flux at the moment.
We do have a crunchy school here but it is just too far away for us (40 minutes - which is too long at this age).
Still burying my head in the sand about the whole move though.
You’ll love Silicon Valley Ella! I’m a homeschooling mom of five boys from San Jose now in the UK and will be very happy to help you in any way I can with relocating there.
And I understand what you mean, I love it here but it is not home.