From: Alan
To: Amanda
Subject: Hey!!
Nothing bad, so don't worry; but can you give me a call if you have a chance.
Well, that looks fairly innocent.
The possibility of moving to Australia has been distantly on our radar for the past two years. Never with much certainty. But always there like a little speck of glitter (excuse the random metaphor). Sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can't, and when you try to pick it up, to get a closer look at it, it just eludes your grasp. Not that we ever really pursued the possibility, as we've always been content with our lives here. But that's what Australia feels like to me. Glitter. Haha.
I was at work when I received that email, so I didn't think too much of it when I phoned my husband at his work. After our fairly usual pleasantries, he just sort of blurts it out
"They asked me if we would move to Brisbane"
My heart did a weird leap into my throat, while my stomach simultaneously dipped to new depths.
Big pause.
Me: "Uh... I can't talk about this at work right now. I gotta go"
Him: "I know I probably shouldn't have told you like this, but I had to tell someone!"
Me "Okay, well, we can talk about later." Another awkward pause "I have to go"
Not exactly supportive wife material there.
There was about two hours left in my shift at that point, and I can't honestly tell you what I did in those two hours, or how I got home. And I'm the type of person that obsesses about things a little. Not to the point of compulsion, but enough that I come up with all sorts of potential scenarios in my head, and then worry about them. I'm dangerous when I'm alone with my thoughts.
This was on Friday, so our weekend was interesting. I cried a lot. And my initial reaction was one of "No! I don't want to move. I'm happy here." So imagine my surprise when that was replaced with a growing feeling of "I want to do this". We talked a lot, and I cried some more. It was an intense weekend.
I wanted to talk with my parents about it, so we invited them out for brunch on Sunday. At a nice restaurant. Just the four of us. Perfect time to announce some exciting news right? As we're driving to pick them up, I realize that we could be setting the stage for an announcement of a different sort. Can you guess what?
So it was my turn to blurt out the news. Which I did, immediately upon sitting down to brunch. Phew. And naturally, they were supportive, and excited for us, as well as the travel possibilities for them. And we had a lovely brunch, and no one thought anyone was expecting anything. Let alone a velociraptor. (Inside joke)
But for the record, we're not expecting!!!
At any rate, our journey towards ex-pat-dom continues. Watch this space.
