Where HAS the time gone? It seemed like we were foreigners for such a long time, examining everything from our outsider eyes, but somewhere within the past year and some, this has become home.
Liam celebrated another birthday, we are nearly through with our second "ersatz" winter, I've been teaching at the local high school for long enough now that most of the kids don't seem so bad (but I still want a Despicable Me freeze ray for the ones who are "feral"), and things feel normal.
And, so, it's time to change.
Not that we really want to. Shortly after our arrival, the future of the coal industry in Australia took a downturn. It took a while for things to gather steam, but we've been hearing of layoffs since before the end of the year. We have friends who have been laid off, the kids have friends whose parents have had to find new jobs or accept lesser jobs. The mine where Chris works announced a layoff last month, and honestly, I was surprised that his position wasn't cut. The project isn't happening any time this decade, so he's been hanging on doing who knows what? Serving barbeques, from what I hear.
And so, a lucky potash company in New Mexico is going to benefit from Chris's dedication and expertise.
The boys are sad, Andy in particular. He's really enjoyed living here, making lots of friends, becoming a tween, discovering that in a larger school there are lots of kids who share his interests. Liam is sad to leave his friends, but he's already planning on building a "cubby house" in the backyard of the home we find in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
I'm sad; I've made a wonderful, accepting, fun group of friends here. We really thought we had several more years in the cards.
But, we don't stay sad for long. Liam and I were considering our lives the other day, and we realized that he has celebrated one third of his nine birthdays outside of the USA. What a well-traveled kid! Andy plans to come back to Australia to spend a full summer (Australian winter) in Coober Pedy, South Australia, mining for opals. The weather will be perfect. The town reminds me of Louis Sacher's book Holes.
Some of our friends from here like to travel, and we will try to persuade them to make the trip to the American Southwest. And we'll try to persuade YOU to make the trip! We can dangle Carlsbad Caverns as a special treat! And just a few hours' drive to Mexico!
We've planned a few more trips while we're still in Australia, so look for a few more blog entries over the next month or so.
I re-read the quotation I chose for this blog when we first decided to move to Australia, and I guess it's still true. I can wish for more time, but the next adventure beckons. I think it's time to have a goal of actually becoming fluent in Spanish . . .