Until We Meet Again

Our time in Australia has come to an end. After three years abroad, we decided to pack up everything and move back to the US. Unfortunately, Dad is ill and my family needs help. It's really hard to care for an ailing parent from so far away, never mind from another country. So, Paul and I have decided the right thing to do is to move home.

I know despite the illness, my parents would want us to live our lives and not worry about anything. In fact, Mom being mom has still tried to shelter her kids from the harsh reality of dad's illness. But after three years, we've had a good run in Sydney. We had fun and will always look back at our time abroad with fond memories. Although our lives were really good in Australia, it just wasn't right to being living the high life while things are not going well on the home front. At the end of the day, life isn't all good if your loved ones are struggling. Dad's illness seems to be finally confirmed by his doctor and at least now we know what we're facing. Paul and I need to be there for our family... we don't want to miss anymore time.

Luckily, Paul's work has been extremely understanding and offered him to work from the US for the same Sydney company. He's telecommuting and will hopefully be making a few trips a year back to OZ. So, in a way, it's not a final goodbye to Sydney. I'm confident we will be back... even if it's just for a few visits here and there.

We had some really amazing experiences while living abroad. We travelled heaps, experienced different cultures, learned much and have come away with a different perspective on life and our lives. I am so thankful and feel so fortunate to have had this experience and look forward to perhaps living abroad again in the future. I honestly think if one has the chance to live overseas, they should. I know it's a big change and there's a lot involved in uprooting one's life but the experience is so rewarding in so many way- too many to really communicate. You get out of it what you put in to it and I think we really gave it our all, which is why we loved it so much. Don't get me wrong, living overseas can be difficult in many ways, but you just have to keep things in perspective, give it a chance and be willing to make compromises and sacrifices. In the end, the benefits and the experience, at least for us, out way any obstacles.

We will miss Sydney and will always think of it as our second home. It's a beautiful city with just about everything you could want- beautiful beaches, scenic harbours and views, green park lands, mountains, wine valleys, culture, arts, business, fine cuisine and on and on. I know I'm a bit partial since we've called Sydney home for three years, but I really do think it's one of the best cities in the world.

I'm not going to say goodbye to Australia because I know we will be back so here's a short re-cap in pictures of some of our good times living and travelling in Australia.

Honey, We're Home

What's that...

We've arrived in the land of smog, chain restaurants, strip malls, 12 lane freeways with bumper to bumper traffic...

Oh yes, you're right. We're home. So why did we leave again?



Get ready for life back in the U S of A.

There's more to come.

Home

I am happy to report that I am back in Sydney and happily reunited with the hubs. We're a good team and so it's nice to be back in action together.

It's weird, whenever I'm gearing up to leave the US, I get this achy homesick feeling before I even leave US soil. I think to myself, "I love the US and Australia is this horrible, far away place with nothing going for it. Why am I leaving?" Then, the tide changes and once I land in Sydney I'm absolutely in love with OZ all over again and start thinking, "Who would want to live in the US when you can live in Sydney! This place is amazing." Why the flip flop? I don't know, could it be because our trips to the US aren't very often so leaving is always hard especially when you don't know when you'll return? Maybe it's just a case of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, (or in my case, ...other side of the world!) or, maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me? My guess... I'm torn between our two "homes." Although the US will always be our main home, we've made a life and a home together in Sydney and so it's true what they say, "home is where the heart is," and I guess for me, my heart is in two places at once.

As expected, leaving the US was unfortunately terribly hard. You would think after going back and forth for three years, now, that saying goodbye would get easier, but it doesn't. It just doesn't. It didn't help that Dad was doing poorly so that made leaving even that much harder and stressful. If I could have changed all my flights without paying heaps of money, I would have and now with Dad back in the hospital today... I wish I had. I feel so bad for my mom having to go it alone. It's been extremely tough lately and she is so strong and brave for dealing with everything that has happened, but one person can only deal with so much before needing a shoulder to cry on, a loving embrace or just knowing that there's someone else there to help. I know she could do with having immediate support and love around her to get through all of this... and I wish that person was me and that I wasn't half way around the world. It's really difficult to have a sick family member when you're so far away- you feel so helpless and a bit guilty for not being there to help. So, anyone reading this, please say a little prayer for my family or keep us in your thoughts.

On top of leaving at such a crappy time, my flight back to Sydney was a disaster. After a whirlwind of emotions and trying to stay strong while I said goodbye to the family, I soon ran out of time. My mom was no longer able to take me to the airport and I quickly scrambled to hire a car and drove myself an hour and a half to the airport. I ended up missing my first of three flights. Luckily there was another flight an hour later and I made it to Oakland on standby where I ran as fast as I could through two different terminals to catch my connecting flight to Hawaii. Finally, I arrived safely in Honolulu, however, I cannot say the same for my luggage. Turns out, it was still in Oakland and it wouldn't be able to make it to Hawaii in time for me to catch my morning flight to Sydney. So, sans luggage, I boarded my flight to Sydney, after having a 6 hour layover, and finally made it home. Now I have the pleasure of trying to get my luggage to Sydney when the airline who initially lost it only flies domestically in the US... fun times.