Our entire world is about to be turned upside down, literally. Summer will be winter. There will be a new set of stars in the sky. Temperature and distance are measured in a different metric and we’ll have to master driving on the opposite side of the road. We are moving to New Zealand.
There are so many conflicting emotions within us both. For me, there is excitement mixed with fear and dread. I dread the tasks that lie before us and fear that we’re making a terrible mistake. But I am excited as well. Excited to see what it feels like to spend an extended time in a country that is not my own. Excited to explore new places. Excited to see who I am there. And even excited to be a witness to the crazy weather of Wellington, the city that will be our new home.
Flights are purchased and the visa application process has begun. There is much sorting and purging ahead of us. It is a clean slate, a chance to cut away the remaining excess of the possessions we have clung to since leaving our full-time home in Asheville three years ago. It is an opportunity to start again.
The rain fell hard this evening after the workday was done. I put on my shoes and out the door I went as the drops began to fall. They gathered steam as so did I. Around the town my footsteps fell while the drops hit the ground. A chill wind blew and the beacon flash from across the sound at the Cape Lookout lighthouse was masked by veils of water. Shirt soaked through, water squishing out the mesh of my shoes and dripping off the tip of my nose. What could be more exquisite than this?