It has been a wee while since we checked in. The kitties arrived, our shipping container arrived, kids started school and my job continues on. We are settling in nicely in so many ways.
But then a gut punch with my beautiful mother passing away suddenly on October 18, 2020. It is really quite surreal- this is almost exactly what happened with our first venture to NZ in 2009. My father passed away suddenly just 2.5 months after moving to NZ in 2009. And now my mother has passed. It is uncanny.
This picture was taken at Hamner Springs, a cute little resort town northwest of Christchurch in 2010. I loved this woman so, so much. She was not happy when I told her we were moving back to New Zealand this summer. She was experiencing some memory loss for the last 2 years and Covid had really exacerbated her mental and emotional state which made our move even more difficult (though I know she understood on some level). She broke her tibia while we were in quarantine and had been recovering well but because of a lack of mobility, she suffered pulmonary emboli and succumbed to a sudden heart attack.
And as it was 11 years ago, I am headed back to the States for a visit to help sort her estate and spend time with my siblings. I'm fortunate to have an understanding employer and the resources to be able to travel back but it is daunting. Covid is surging in the States and there is the post-election turmoil (oy vey but hallelujah that Biden has won, despite what the Trumpster cultists think). And a temporary and emotional pause to our reintroduction to New Zealand. I'll be masking up and sequestering in my mini-bubble back in Oregon. And look forward to a return to my family and new home in early January, after yet another stint in managed quarantine. Until then...
