Kathy Goes Kiwi

We leave in 37 days. Thirty-seven days. And I’m a little bit sad, and it’s catching me *completely* off guard.

Why am I sad? We are moving to New Freaking Zealand for the adventure of a lifetime! It’s going to be great! I cannot wait! I think about it all the time! I am so excited! Like, SERIOUSLY. SO. EXCITED!

But.

In order for our amazing adventure to begin and happen and be amazing, we have to leave. Our home. My job. Our friends. Only for six months, but still. We have to leave. I did not expect to feel any sadness whatsoever, so I’ve been thrown for a loop.

The girls just finished up their school year this past Friday – one of them was in big, fat snotty tears when the day was over. A lot of her friends are going to a different school next year so I think she’s feeling more angsty than normal. Not knowing what she’s walking into in a mere six weeks when she starts a new school on the other side of the world. Not knowing what she’ll be walking back into when she comes home. It’s hard watching it, because she doesn’t believe in the midst of all her sadness that she’s getting ready to have a great, big, and wonderful adventure. And trying to convince a middle schooler of that is, I believe, wasted breath. I mean, I tell her, but she’s not picking up what I’m putting down.

And I had to leave my job. They weren’t going to let me work while we were gone, so that’s over, too. I worked with great people and had so much fun with them. I’m really proud of the work I did there and think it was important, so even I’m a little off kilter. And I KNOW we’re going to have a great, big, and wonderful adventure.

But this won’t kill us – it’ll make us all stronger, give the girls new strength they aren’t anticipating, and create new memories that will last a lifetime. It’s going to be great, even if it’s sad till it happens.