Farewell Melbourne Part 2

I'm already missing:

1.  St. Kilda Road, this elegant, broad boulevard is reminiscent of Europe's finest.
2.  Chapel Street, its vibe, its music, its eateries, its crazy people weaving and yelling at no one in particular.
3.  Melbourne's alleys.  From Banksy-esque graffiti'd walls come the best cafes, pop-up shops, and overheard snippets of conversation.
4.  Melbourne's trains. "Next stop South Yarra, change here for the Belgrave line" in the poshest of voices.  No "G'day maties, get off 'ere for Belgrave too right!" here.
5.  High Street Armadale.  My third favorite high street.
6.  My peoples...still...

This past weekend, my generous friends Kelly and Kathy threw a farewell party for us.  I must say, as (1) I hate good-bye's and (2) I hate being the centre of anyone's attention, I was looking forward and dreading it at the same time.  I treasure the friendships I have made in Melbourne, but am better at telling them how much I treasure them one person at a time.

Still, all of our friends were there and it was a wonderful party, the kids played hard for about 6 hours.  Everyone's generosity of spirit was overwhelming, and I pretty much cried from start to finish.  It wasn't pretty.

How do you tell people that in the absence of family, they have filled that void without sounding maudlin?  How do you tell them how much they have enriched your lives without sounding disingenuous?  How do you tell them how desperately you will miss them without sounding pithy?  I couldn't, so I just cried.  Fortunately, C2 did a pretty good job.

 Emilie, Kerry and me....doing my best to keep it together

 Nick helps J with a water balloon

J's great pal and Ruby to his Kirk

 Mel, Kelly and Majella

 Patrick and Emilie

 Kathy, Olivia, me and Marie-Pierre

 With Brigette

 J and his one of his best mates

 With Severine and Stephane

 Mel starts the presentation.  I'm barely holding my composure....

Losing it....

Still losing it...

And....lost it!

 A handful of the kids

  

Z.A.J.

Patrick, Marco, Severine,  Majella, and Steph

Kerry and Mel and their gorgeous littlies

My beautiful yoga partner and friend Ursula, Em, and Patrick

Nothing says friendship like a good noogie!

Clearly I am holding forth with something utterly fascinating...well at least I'm not weeping and wailing!  

With Kerry, Jean-Marc, and Ursula