Long Time No Talk but Much to Tell

I really need to get back to blogging more regularly.  I am out of practice, rusty, pre-occupied and other-wise distracted.  Why you ask?  Well, for those of you not part of my Facebook world, Swiss Family Hendricks is moving...and for added drama...to Australia.

Ok, first things first.  What in the heck am I going to rename my blog???  I need help and suggestions.  Hendricks Down Under?, Kangaroo Hendricks?, bah too pithy, I need something a little more clever.  So throw your ideas my way.

I must confess when the word first came down, I didn't deal so well.  The two reasons I had been opposed started with my aging beloved dog Murphy and ended with my aging beloved mum in Alberta, a long way from Melbourne.  However, with the benefit of some perspective, and a house-finding, school-finding trip in October to Melbourne, I am reminded that with the beauty of rapid air travel, the world is indeed a shrinking place.  Also, did you know that there are International Pet Relocation Companies? And for the price of a second-hand car, they will do their darndest to get Murphy successfully to Australia and through 30 days of quarantine.

So not to bore you with the minutia of details invested in a move of this magnitude, let me summarize our current state.  We have rented a house in Malvern East, a leafy south-east Melbourne suburb, and a few minutes drive to J's new school, l'Ecole Francaise de Melbourne.  That was a VERY big deal, J sat on the EFM's wait list for a couple of months, but a bagful of Swiss chocolate and many many pleading phone calls, and personal visits later, he's in!  Poor C2, however, faces a brutal and long commute to north Melbourne.  He hasn't commuted more than 15 minutes in his entire life.  Still, in general, this part is all good.

The icky part, however, is the exit from our house in Geneva, with all the fun that is wrapped up in a system that gives all rights to the owner and virtually none to the renter.  Suffice it to say, it will cost us the price of another second-hand car to vacate this property in a state that will satisfy our impossible owners.  Then there is the selling of two cars, outdoor play equipment, excess furniture, electronics.  C2 straddling two stressful jobs and travelling during 2.5 weeks of our remaining 4 weeks here.

The even ickier part, of course, are the good-byes.  Ick Ick double Ick!  I have already bid farewell to dear friends who have moved on with their own lives (Melissa, Jawahara, Elin, Lavi) but still had the comfort of remaining meaningful friends.  Leaving my remarkable writers group, Katie, Sher, Tima, Sharon, Paula, and Moyette (Jawahara relocated to Boston last week); my book group, Kathy, Kathy, Helen, Barbara, Barbara, and Lula; my fantabulous neighbours, Ioli, Marlys, and Amelia; my dog walking posse; and my only remaining fellow expat soulmates, Nat and Cindy will be wrenching.  The ripping out of tender roots hurts.  Extremely difficult will be the renewed physical separation between Sheila and I and our very-attached children; so used are we to the quick journey between Geneva and London.

I am torn between the wanderlust inside of me, and the desire for a moment of permanence.  Still as long as I have my immediate family beside me, my Canadian family supporting me, and my far-flung network of friends and fellow wanderers to talk to,  I hope all will be good in my world.