GG>> The tickets are sorted out. I leave Saginaw on 10 Dec and

 GG> All tickets, passport and Visa are in my possession now. :-)

  Oo, oo, oo! Only ten days to go... and then Saginaw, suck an oar!

 BL> How do you feel... renewed, or sad to quit the old life?

 GG> A bit of both...

 GG> Actually, I've been so busy that I've not had much time to feel
 GG> anything more than exhausted. I finished writing my book on 11
 GG> Nov, and since that time have been going flat chat trying to
 GG> take care proofing, editing and formatting. It's 17 chapters
 GG> and 4 appendices of material, and I want it finished by time I
 GG> leave on the 10th.

  It'll catch up with you... leaving is always sad.

 GG> As to waxing philosophical, I haven't really given myself time.
 GG> I can say that I've come to like each of my kids as
 GG> individuals. The time away from them and knowing I'm leaving
 GG> again has given me a new perspective. I still very much believe
 GG> they will have things better for them with me not there. It
 GG> doesn't mean I won't be communicating with them, as each have
 GG> learned how to do email and I've taught the oldest how to pick
 GG> up mail and send it using his Dads computer so when Mike is
 GG> away or too busy to start the computer up, they can still reach
 GG> me.

  Boys quit their mother around that age anyway, so 10,000 miles away
is not a bad place to be. The next time you know them they might even
be human.

 GG> I will truly miss my oldest. He's gone from being a gangly
 GG> little twit to a really decent teenager - the kind you never
 GG> read about but know exists. He's now taller than me and has a
 GG> deeper voice, which changed in the last 7 months. I'm quite
 GG> proud of him as he's seems to fit in with the world around him
 GG> (not the nicest of places) very well, and there was a time when
 GG> I reckoned he'd never quite fit anywhere. 

  I went through something similar (on a reduced scale) with my
brother's kids. They lived with us for the first 7 years upstairs at
the old house, and then went to Queensland. The link you forge early
is always there, and the genes really do call to each other. It's a
nice surprise to rediscover the new adults.

 GG> Mike is still a nice person, and as a friend I quite like him.
 GG> Our divorce will be final in the next few weeks. We've already
 GG> been to court to deal with child support (neither of us
 GG> "caused" this, it's a state thing). It was definitely different
 GG> because we arrived and left together, and confused the attorney
 GG> who though he was supposed to be trashing Mike (I hate
 GG> lawyers), but found out he had to trash me instead. It worked
 GG> out in the end.

  I've never really been able to understand the bitterness between
married couples who break up. It's much more adult to simply work 
the system...

 GG> Aside from the fact we don't sleep together or have any
 GG> physical contact, most people would assume we're still married
 GG> and that all is status quo. We both deserve more than that,
 GG> though.

  To me, the only sensible emotion on breaking up is regret. Spite is
such a pointless thing.

 GG> I have now told him twice what day the plane leaves this time,
 GG> and I KNOW he understands that I won't be back (or at least not
 GG> for a very long time). If he forgets on purpose, well...

  Parents are basically arseholes... they think they own you, or have
shares, anyway. I don't think they ever understand how much power they
have to hurt you, because children get very good at hiding it.

 GG> It's a lot like knowing you're dying, I reckon. There's pain,
 GG> and there's something to "look forward to," and there's
 GG> waiting.

  ROFL! A new life in the true sense. I'm not really a traveller. I
like things quiet, and easy, and mostly unchanged. It's only a pity
that life's not like that.

 GG> And then, due to the fact Rod and I have daily communication
 GG> with each other and he sends me AVTech mail, plus I read the
 GG> Australian news online (Sydney Morning Herald), I tend to know
 GG> MORE of what is happening in Oz most of the time than I do
 GG> what's going on here. It's weird.
 GG> I look forward to feeling whole again.

 GG>  ... show the
 GG> 

  (grin) It'll be interesting to see how different it is this time,
after a final commitment. All migrants have to go through it, and
Australia has more of those than most. Belonging takes a long time. 20
years seems to be a minimum... and you'll never have that feeling of
roots into the soil itself like Abos do (and me).

 BL> In any case, the World is a pretty manageable size nowadays and
 BL> Oz is not a bad place to be... even Adelaide.

 GG> Or a few KM south, even. :-)

  Adelaide would be my second choice of city after Sydney. They've got
a similar "free" feeling.

Regards, Bob

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

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