T minus 1 week to departure

“You’re moving to Australia next week? Your brain must be a wreck!”

I hear this comment often and have typically responded with expressions of detached indifference, as if moving to Australia was somehow unavoidable. Indeed, I have been uncharacteristically calm about the whole ordeal. Don’t get me wrong, I am enthusiastic about the prospects of living and working abroad – I just don’t feel the surge of apprehensive anticipation that I felt before we moved to Mexico. I mean, let’s face it, Australia is not much different from the United States when it comes to the quality and array of basic services such as urban infrastructure, healthcare facilities, and reliable indoor plumbing. It’s not like we’re moving to some decaying 3rd world back water where surgeons operate with rusty tire irons. Heck, they even speak English there …or something like it anyway.

That said, with our departure date rapidly approaching, I am plagued by the annoying feeling that I should be really busy taking care of details, but when it gets right down to it, all I really need to do is throw some clothes into a suitcase and get on a plane – and I could probably make do without my clothes. I have the nagging feeling there are loose ends I should be tying up, but instead, I spend my days wandering around my house and yard, savoring the images and sensations of my peaceful mountain oasis to bring with me in defense against homesickness.

As I get older I’ve noticed (…an increasing number of my observations are prefaced with that phrase…) that it is getting harder and harder to leave places behind. I’m still excited about going to new places. I just get more attached to each new place that we call home…and it doesn’t help matters with Kevin making overblown statements of finality such as “This is the last time we’ll eat Tacos al Pastor at Roberta’s,” or “Gee, this is last time we’ll see snow.”

Of course, these statements are ridiculous. We still own our house here in Shingletown, CA and all of our stuff is here, so we will have to come back sometime.

And when we do, I will absolutely stuff myself with tacos.