This is a series of posts that will log some of my thoughts in the month leading up to my moving back to New Zealand.
The moving boxes are on the way. Now comes the harder part. Filling them. Although, perhaps it won’t be as difficult as I imagine. We are well-practiced at it after all.
It’s a funny process, deciding which objects to attach to our life and which to let go of. When last year we left New Zealand, we said that if we returned, all we’d bring is what we could easily carry on the plane. We had decided that there’s no need to bring a lot of things since you can get whatever you need when you arrive. But now that the time has come again, I can’t bear the thought of giving up the set of measuring spoons I’ve grown so fond of.
So what do you take when you move around the world? The expensive pots and pans that were meticulously chosen one at a time over the years. Books you keep thinking you’ll read again but probably never will.
Mostly, we will pack our memories. Or at least the objects we have attached them to. We will wrap these carefully in paper and old t-shirts, the shirts we know we should be getting rid of and yet they too contain memories that we hesitate to let go of.
Everything can be replaced and we don’t need most of it in the first place. But memories are different. They are what will keep us tethered to the people we love that remain here whilst we fling ourselves across the globe once more.
