We are back from our un-Holiday, Coffs Harbour via Sydney, to see a man about a (black) Dog.
Here we are at Sydney Harbour. We had four hours between planes, so caught a taxi to the Harbour and played at being tourists...
Look, the Sydney Opera House.
And the Harbour Bridge. We are such posers.
I dared Mr G to jump in with the group of pensioners posing on the Opera House steps. This was as far as he was willing to go...
But like I said it wasn't a holiday, even though there were some holiday-ish aspects to it.
Forget about sleeping in though. We were usually wakened at 5am by the kids calling us from New Zealand before school. Darn that timezone thing.
Coffs Harbour was our ultimate destination, not for the beautiful scenery, the surfing or the Big Banana. There's a bloke who lives in Coffs Harbour called Ray Andrews.
Ray is a counselor and therapist who comes highly recommended, and who we thought could really help us move forward and make some progress, with the ongoing depression I've been living with and the way that affects us as a couple.
We decided to use our travel vouchers to change our future instead of holidaying in the Pacific.
Two days of intense therapy, talking through all kinds of stuff and coming to some amazing realisations.
I will write further on this later because I really believe this has changed the way I see myself, and my life forever. Lightbulbs were coming on left and right.
I want to share this with you, expecially those who've been on a similar journey to me. For the first time in like, forever, I really feel like there's not only hope, but HELP.
I'm going to keep working with a colleague of Ray's back here at home, because this is just the first step in a journey to complete health and wholeness - something I deep-down believed was not possible.
So you can bet I am grateful we spent our holiday money on this life-changing un-holiday.
We got to do a little bit of sightseeing... and shopping... (in the gorgeous Old Butter Factory boutique shopping centre in Bellingen where I scored the cutest red spotty enamel teapot and milk jug... and a tin sign that says, "Faith makes things possible... not easy.")
Beautiful scenery on the Coffs Coast, perhaps the prettiest part of Australia I've seen. It's very green.
This was a highly profound and worthwhile trip but we are now enjoying the subconscious backlash from the kids who missed us like crazy.
Have you ever noticed how when you go away you really pay for it afterwards? How your kids can be so so good for the people minding them but when you come back they unleash a weeks worth of of stored-up naughtiness and grumping?
No? OK, just us then. Hehe.
My parents had the kids, for the first time ever and I think they found it (
The kids found it hard without us; no matter how lovely your granny is, she just does things different from mummy.
We were met with shrieks, neverending hugs and multitudinous kisses. Dash flung his arms around me and said, "I thought about you all day and said to myself, I can't wait to get my hands on mummy..." (awwwww) while Miss fab actually screamed and fell to her knees. She's so dramatic... I have no idea where she gets it from. Really.
Scrag gave us a big hug and then said, "Where's my present?" (His manners still need work.)
I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that. Amazing.
(Funny how when they parents are out of the picture, the kids cling to each other for support. It seems to bring them closer and they realise how much they need each other).
Right, now I have to race and get things ready for May the Fourth (be With You)... bake Wookie Cookies, get icecream for the Yoda Sodas, paint toilet-rolls black for lightsaber serviette holders... You know, fun stuff.
So that's what I'm grateful for this week: A Lifechanging un-Holiday.
Hope your week went well too. May the Force be with you!
No comments:
Post a Comment