And then there were two.....

We have now been in Madeira for 10 days and are getting more relaxed and less stressed as we fit into a new rhythm of life.

In my last post I said that our move has been both physically and emotionally demanding and I'll now elaborate a bit.

By far the biggest and most difficult aspect of our whole move overseas has been the fact that our two daughters have not come with us.  They are both in their mid-twenties so they need to forge their own lives and careers, within the UK or elsewhere, rather than having us dictate to them.  Until a couple of months ago, both were still living with us so our move, and the sale of our house, meant that they had to find new accommodation.  They get on well but the idea of living together was not really an option so both have found rented accommodation which suits their individual lifestyles.  Corina, the eldest, is now sharing a flat with a friend from her church, and Tania is living in a house with the owner/landlady.

Moving the girls into their new places has been strenuous and logistically demanding but we got there in the end.  Corina's move involved "two men and a van", as well as a car load, as she was in the fortunate position of being able to take some of her own furniture with her.  In fact, she even supplied some furniture for her flat mate.  This has had the double benefit of her keeping her familiar and comfortable furniture, and us not having to find new homes or storage for it.  As Corina has previously lived away from home for college and work, the transition, although painful, was not too shocking for any of us.  One victim was Dave's head though, as he ended up with a nasty cut on it caused when dismantling her landlord's old unwanted wardrobe.

Tania, on the other hand, had never lived away from home before as she stayed at home throughout her time at college.  Therefore the arrangement where she is in an established house feels more comfortable for her (and us). Sadly she could not take much of her furniture with her.  Our original plan had been to store it for her but that proved to be ridiculously expensive so we agreed that we would bring her bed out here (as we needed another one) so she can use it when she is here, and sell or give away her desk, wardrobe and bedside table.  When she buys her own place we will buy her a new bed and other pieces.  We had one piece of furniture which she particularly wanted to keep, an art deco display cabinet, and some kind friends of ours are looking after it for her, along with a couple of sculptures she had asked to keep.

That brings me onto how generous our friends and neighbours have been as we have been going through the whole move.  We definitely left on a wave of love and support from them all, with practical and emotional support in abundance.  We can't thank them enough for all they have done for us, and for their good wishes and kind thoughts.  We even have a sideboard full of new home cards here as a reminder.

We also had to say goodbye to our extended families, some of whom we sadly may not see again.  For Dave's side of the family we were lucky to be able to see almost all of them over one weekend as his Aunt and Uncle who live in Spain were over celebrating a big birthday, followed by celebrating a milestone birthday of one of his nieces the next day. We got to see his aunt and uncles, sister, cousins, nieces and nephews and even a great niece, plus numerous in-laws and partners. For my side, I arranged a meal out with my three sisters, who all live in West Sussex, plus partners and as many of their children as could make it.  Those who couldn't phoned in for chats during the evening. The only family I failed to catch up with was my brother's as he lives in Cheshire and I felt it was too far to ask him to come.  We did see them all in May so it was not too long ago.

I also managed to have a drink and meal out with most of my closest ex-colleagues. It was great to catch up with them and hear some office gossip.

Going back to the emotional side of leaving, I confess that, although I knew that leaving the girls would be tough, I was not at all prepared for the massive wrench it is turning out to be.  First the pain of them leaving home in quick succession, followed by us selling the house that they largely grew up in, and finally us leaving them behind as we flew off to our new lives.  Although, with communications and transport being so available nowadays we are constantly in contact and we are really only a few hours apart, it still feels like a chasm sometimes though.  Many tears have been shed and I miss them dreadfully.

I'll tell you about the rest of the move in my next post as this is already long enough.  No photos I'm afraid as I don't really have any suitable.  There will be some in the next post.  See you there.