Odd Three Months

I've been Stateside for a few weeks now and I'm looking down the barrel of another couple of months before Gaynor and the younger three join me. Due to a variety of circumstances -- children's schooling, house readiness, and a need for income among them -- we are doing this move differently. I'm going ahead to start work, find a place to live, schools, vehicles, and buy half a household and Gaynor is staying with the children to sort, sell, throw, and ship our goods and to finish getting the house ready to rent. We've decided to not sell it. So much work has gone into it that, in short, I'm not ready to part with it yet. It will also be nice to have a sizeable asset we can return to at some point.

Both Gaynor and I have our work cut out for us. I know Gaynor will get a lot of help from our fabulous friends nearby but I think it will still be very stressful for her. On the other side, I have a lot of research to do and big decisions to make and the don't always lend themselves to an afternoon of cool, calm collectedness.

I've also realised that the oddest thing about these three months is that it will be the longest I have ever lived by myself. Growing up with parents, grandparents, and six siblings in the same house you get used to always having someone (usually many someones) around or, on those precious few occasions when you are by yourself, someone about to be around. Given that our children showed up early in our marriage, that feeling never really went away. Though I do not doubt my self-sufficiency skills to survive in an apartment by myself, it will be strange walking into a room you have previously tidied and find it in the same state.