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| Playing with sticks and stones in the rain |
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| We don't see many sheep where we live |
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| Love this city - Wellington |
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| One of my favourite places in the world and my three favourite people - Queenstown |
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| Our day in the snow |
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| Boysenberry choc dipped icecream at Arrowtown. Enough said. |
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| Slam down favourite image of my home town |
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| Don't judge me |
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| There was a lot of skimming stones on this trip |
I think often I have my emotions on autorotate and when going to write this post I remember that I've written something like this before - sure enough
here it is...and do have a read because it sums up how I feel.
We've just been back in New Zealand for just over a fortnight. It was a last minute, much needed trip with the weeks preceding fraught with deadlines, school concerts and illness...still we got there. We left New Zealand almost 7 years ago and although we've been back often, this was the first time in a long while. We all had long lists of people we wanted to see, food we wanted to eat, sights we wanted to see and we managed to tick all these off and more (although the 7 hour night time visit to A&E with one of the boys wasn't on anyones Must Do list - nope.)
It felt easy, it felt like home and it felt very unsettling. There is something so comforting in the familiar. It just draws you in like a greek siren whispering promises of how good life was and can be until you start to consider the "what ifs". This was an unapologetic memory tour. We visited the hospitals our babies were born, we pointed out the sites of their first (insert) walk/swing/haircut/library visits/place Mum and Dad met/place Mum and Dad lived... we drove up driveways of old houses we lived in, we walked into the yard of the stunning house we got married in. We walked through my old university and I told tales of life there and of a me my boys (nor husband) will never know. And we saw family, friends, nieces, nephews, new babies. We snuck quick rendezvous's (hi Kate), we languished in longer ones (hi Alex, hi Becs) and we cherished every minute. I kept saying to my husband "I'm feeling unsettled", he humoured me, but we both knew what this was.
Now back home, I'm bursting with the life I live here. And I am forever grateful how I can feel so much joy from the many different places that are my homes.
Where is home to you? Where you live now, where you once lived or where you want to live?
It must be really hard living in a different country to where you grew up and your kids were born, but at least NZ is close to Australia and there are so many Kiwis here it must almost feel like your at home :)
ReplyDeleteIm off to NZ next month on a cruise, such a beautiful country will be my third time there and I cant wait!
Enjoy Michelle, and yep, I feel very fortunate to have my two homes so close to each other
DeleteHome to me is only 3 hours away. Every now and then I get a craving and have to head home for a day or three. I feel centred but every time ready to go back home and get on with life.
ReplyDeleteI recently went overseas and was reminded of how lucky I feel to live in Australia. I was born and grew up in South Africa and it's weird to me that all my childhood memories are in a place that my son will never know. It wasn't really till my son was born though and both my sisters came to live here that I thought of Australia as home - I guess that's because home for me is where the family is.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I loved this post - your pictures are beautiful!
So beautifully said. I completely understand the feeling. X
ReplyDeleteJust came across your blog via a link-up with Maxabella Loves. A lovely post and I could really feel the pull of home for you in both directions - where life is now and where memories were made. We did a job/house exchange to Canada in 2011 and while it was only a year, I miss it sometimes. But I really felt home when we arrived back in Australia - the big Aussie sky, the familiar climate, there is something primal about the place we call home.
ReplyDeleteHome is NZ for us also, both hubby and I - but my parents and sisters are here in QLD, his are in Winton, South Island. I grew up in North Island and it feels like home - BUT we rarely get back there because have obligations in the SI. These photos made me homesick, sometimes I want to run back to NZ, but the opportunities aren't there for us anymore, but then half the time I wonder does it mattter? Couldn't we just make do?? They say home is where the heart is, and with my parents nearby I suppose home is here, well until the move back to NZ because they can't get the pension here, but don't even get me started on that! Glad I found you via Maxabella Loves - it's Emily here - hi!
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