Too late
By Y | May 19, 2012
This is going to be hard post to write, so I ask for your forgiveness in advance.
After searching for nearly a year, we found OK flights and we’re going back home to visit in September a few weeks ago. We were so excited. We didn’t tell anyone about the flights because we were going to surprise my mother. I could just picture it. It was going to be awesome.
A couple of days ago I bought one of those new super lightweight suitcases and TSA approved case locks. I also received my Australian passport! NJ here we come, I thought.
Yesterday, I received devastating news. My mother has passed away. She caught an infection that she just couldn’t shake. It came on suddenly and consumed her rapidly. She’s gone. I can’t believe it. Since the news, I have emptied myself of tears and now I’m just numb.
Now the new suitcase sitting in my hallway reminds me that I last saw my mother 2.5 years ago. I last spoke to her about 2 weeks ago. I really wanted to let know about our big surprise but I kept it from her, although I had said to myself if she asked I would tell her because I was too excited and I didn’t want to lie to her. Every phone call with my mother consisted with her asking if we were visiting, except for this last call. She died thinking I wasn’t going to visit her this year.
September will be here soon enough, but it will still be too late. I won’t have my mother there to surprise. When I pass by her house, she won’t be there any more. Most likely strangers would be calling that place home, never knowing that my mother once lived there and I was going to go visit her. Now all I will get to visit is a headstone.
I told my husband that I would like cancel the trip altogether because NJ won’t be the same without my mother there driving me crazy as she should. It won’t be the fun-filled trip I had imagined but rather a sad, long, teary, lonely one.
So my friends, what’s the moral of my short story? For those of you living far away (even for those who live near), call, write, email, Skype, and most importantly, visit your family and do it as often as you can. You will never know when it’ll be too late until it happens.
Topics: Hmmm... | No Comments »
Oi, oi, oi
By Y | May 4, 2012
You are now looking at an Australian citizen! After my test a few weeks ago I forgot to let everyone know that I scored 100% on my citizenship test and just this past Monday, I had a private ceremony with the mayor. I have applied for my Australian passport and I have sent in my voting registration paperwork! I’m an Aussie! Wow, I can’t believe it myself!
Topics: Hmmm... | No Comments »
Line drying
By Y | April 13, 2012
In NJ, while growing up, my mother did our laundry at the laundromat. I couldn’t wait to have a washer and dryer. When I was older and I had money, I bought her a washing machine and she would line dry the clothes. When MJ and I married, we lived in a small apartment for the first two years and we couldn’t have a washing machine. We had to do our laundry at the laundromat. Again I couldn’t wait to have a washer and dryer. Then we moved into a house and we had a washer and dryer. YAY! My in-laws visited shortly after and they installed a clothesline in the backyard for us. We used it but usually for things that we didn’t want to put through the dryer. The laundry room was in the basement and I couldn’t imagine bringing up a basket of wet clothes up to the first level to hang when I was already tired from work and being a first time mother. We saved the clothesline for special occasions. At least, that’s what I told others. Since we’ve been in Australia, we’ve realized that more people line dry their clothes than not. They even have these fancy pole clothesline and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I don’t know if it’s just an old-fashioned custom that has stayed around or if it’s due to saving energy and therefore the environment. Who knows? But it does have its merits.
What made me write about this today? Well it’s a lovely warm and breezy day to hang some clothes outside and I just thought I would share. Go do something for the planet and hang dry your clothes today!
Topics: Inspiration | No Comments »
Me, an Aussie??
By Y | February 20, 2012
It’s been 4 years since we landed in Australia and began calling this place home! I can’t believe it! And now I qualify to become an Australian citizen. Wow. It seems like just yesterday I was sorting through our things, trying to figure out what to send to Australia and what to get rid of and now I’ve received my appointment for my Citizenship test! I have about 2 weeks to study the ins and outs of Australian culture and government! Wish me luck! I’m going to need all the luck I can get!
Topics: Hmmm... | No Comments »
Silly questions
By Y | November 29, 2011
Whomever said “there are no stupid questions…” was full of it because along with “Why isn’t Thanksgiving (or the 4th of July) celebrated in Australia?” comes these doozies….
Topics: What the...? | No Comments »
Bombing Magpies
By Y | November 6, 2011
And I’m not talking about the AFL team.
I’m talking about the bird. We were at the park. LJ was riding his new bike while CJ was running around like the maniac he is. The next thing we know a magpie swoops down onto LJ’s head. Good thing he had his bike helmet. MJ went to check on LJ and sure enough the magpie swooped down on him too!
As we were leaving another magpie joined in the swooping. MJ had to scare the birds away so we could get through safely!
Another to add to the list of when birds attack.
Topics: What the...? | No Comments »
It’s a start
By Y | November 5, 2011
Amazon.co.uk ships to Australia! And books qualify for Free Super Saver Shipping! And the prices aren’t too bad. For other stuff, the shipping costs a fair bit and may not be worth it but boy, is it a start! Now I can’t wait until Australia has it’s very own Amazon! Maybe one day…in the near future???? Until then, I already placed my order at the UK site. Let’s see how long does it take to get here! Will let you know!
Topics: Shopping | No Comments »
Something I didn’t prepare for
By Y | November 3, 2011
One of the things that you don’t think about when you decide to move to the other side of the world is what will happen when a family member is ill – at least I didn’t think about it.
About two years ago, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. However, with chemo, he seemed to have beat it as were the updates that I was given via email, Facebook, and phone calls. When I visited the States last, he seemed to be doing well. Then early this year, we were making plans to go back to NJ sometime in September. I checked the flights around April and yes September was going to be the time because the fares were more affordable but we didn’t have the money to book so we figured we would wait until we got our tax return back. Shortly after, we were told that my uncle’s cancer had spread and that he had less than 6 months to live. I quickly checked the fares again and the cost had nearly doubled. Nearly every day I checked, hoping for a break. Hoping that there would be an astronomical sale and we could put the cost onto the credit card and worry about it later. As I received updates on my uncle’s health deteriorating, I frantically searched VAustralia, Qantas, Delta, and all the other international airlines to no avail. During this time, other family members began suffering health problems including my mother who had heart failure and needed to have a bypass. I was desperate to get home but the airlines were against me going by having increased their fares. While we got a decent tax return, it wasn’t enough, plus, we had car repairs and other living expenses that needed to be taken care of as well.
September came and went and we never made it back home. Then the dreaded day came.
It was exactly a month ago today. My uncle Steve, who was more like a brother to me, died. I was devastated. While I was able to say goodbye to him on the phone and tell him that I loved him, I didn’t get to see him and he didn’t get to see me or the kids. The guilt nearly ate me up alive. I beat myself up by telling myself that I should have been there. I should have been prepared but I wasn’t. I never thought about what would happen once I moved and close family and friends became sick and what that would mean. I’ve known people who have died but I’ve never had a close family death so it never crossed my mind. I took it for granted that people do get sick, age, and die and that I won’t be able to be there all the time because I decided to live not only in another country but on the other side of the world.
I come from a large family and while they truly get on my nerves most of the time, I love them more than words could describe. And because I come from a large family, a realization hit me. I will not be there when they’re sick…when they get bad news, like cancer…when they die. I won’t be able to sit at every hospital bedside and offer words of comfort. I won’t make it to every funeral. So while I mourn my uncle’s passing, I prematurely mourn my living loved ones eventual passing as well.
But what can I do?
I now call Australia home and I do not foresee a move back to the US and even so, my husband and children would be in the same position I’m in by not being able to be with their Australian family, if we were to move back. So I ask again what can I do? What can anyone do who is in the same situation – living far away from many of their loved ones? I suppose, the first thing to do is, we must start saving so we could visit as often as we can. We must also have an emergency travel fund in which we could tap when in need. In the meantime, we must talk to our loved ones often. Tell them what they mean to us. Send pictures, videos, emails, letters, cards, whatever, and do it often. Don’t wait for bad news to call that person you’ve been meaning to. Do it now. Don’t wait because you never know if tomorrow will be the day you get a call at 5am that it’s too late, you can’t go home…your beloved uncle has died.
Topics: Homesick, Just one of those days, People to see, Places to go, Things to do, Travel tips | No Comments »
Just something I noticed
By Y | July 27, 2011
We spent a couple of days in Melbourne this week mainly because I had an appointment at the American Consulate but we did some sightseeing as well. One thing I noticed in the CBD (central business district) a lot of Melbournites (if that’s a word) walk, take the train, etc, plugged into their Ipods or phones or sometimes both. Must be a big city thing. Just found it interesting and I wanted to tell someone of my keen observation.
Topics: Victoria | No Comments »
American’s Survival Guide
By Y | July 23, 2011
I was looking through this website tidying up any loose ends that had come undone as I had been absent from it for so long and I came across an Amazon link to Americans’ Survival Guide to Australia and Australian-American Dictionary
Topics: Hmmm... | No Comments »
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