Leaving On A Jet Plane

I walked into the spare bedroom this morning and all that was left was an unmade bed, a clear floor space where once there were suitcases she was living out of while staying with us, and the scent of her perfume.

No long lanky daughter stretched out on the bed with her computer where she would lay or  sit and Skype for hours.  No Hi's from the other side of the world to me either.

Just silence and an empty space.

The goodbyes are over, the travel has started, the Perth to Melbourne leg is done and she is on the long journey now from Melbourne to LAX, then to Seattle before the jump to Sitka in Alaska.  She arrives on Thursday morning Perth time, she left here at 11.30pm last night.

Her impatience to get on the plane was palpable, as was her anxiety at leaving.

As a mother it is bittersweet to want nothing more than your children to be happy, but to know that to do this they have to leave you, and not just leave your home or the State in which your live but the country as well.

So my heart is breaking today, but I know it will mend when I see her smiling face at the end of her journey.

Now I really need to download Skype so that can happen.

Have a wonderful journey daughter of mine, may your heart be always filled with happiness and know that is always my wish for you, as it is for your sisters and brother.

A Goodbye cuddle on Sunday with her sisters and brother
(she's the one 2nd from the right or 3rd from the left if that is your preference)

No Phone, No Internet and Goodbyes and the State of Denial

We have had no phone since Sunday 11th, which means no Internet either.

Telstra said they would have it fixed by Weds 14th, then texted us that day to say another week.

The reason, they were too busy and understaffed.

What pissed me off more than anything was that they sent a text, as a valued (obviously not) and loyal customer for many many years, I think they could have at least phoned.

So when hubby phoned them back and complained they as least directed our home phone to my mobile, but he had to ask for them to do this.  They also agreed to up my data download on my iPhone so we could intermittently check emails and the like.

So I was pleased when we were phoned around lunch time today to say they were fixing the phone.  It seems to take all of about 3 minutes, a 8 day wait and 3 minutes work, seriously Telstra I am not happy Jan.

Because of this, I have been absent in the blogosphere for much of that time, I will endeavour to catch up with my reading, but I am sure I will have missed much that is happening out there.

In other news, my youngest daughter is about to head off to Alaska tomorrow, yep Alaska and not just for a holiday!!  She has a working Visa and has been given a fantastic opportunity to not only work over there, but to live with the love of her life.

Me, well I am in denial about the whole thing, can't say that I will be tomorrow night as we bid her farewell, but denial is a nice state of being sometimes.

Yesterday we had the family - all my children and their significant others, my 3 grand-daughters and my Mum and step father - over for a BBQ lunch. To say a few tears were shed at the end of the afternoon would be the truth, but none by me, because as you know, I am in that state (the denial one).  Tomorrow night, shares in Kleenex will go up, I can guarantee that, cause the dam will break because denial is such a temporary state, don't you hate that?

In other news, hubby and I celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary on the 12th, 35 years of love and happiness and hoping for many, many more.

Thanks for popping by xxx

Just had to share this photo of Great Grandma (also known as Mimsie) reading to her 2nd youngest great grandie xxx 

Of course there was the obligatory family photo, and yes it is hard to get all of use looking at the camera and smiling at once, although saying 'monkeys' seems to have helped with the smiling part - lol
Not sure why we are all squinting though - although it could have something to do with us watching a small red blinking light on the camera to make sure we all said monkeys at the same time.