The First Goodbye…

Saying goodbye is never easy, whether it’s to family or friends. I’ve always found goodbyes to be the saddest part of life.

We recently had our first set of goodbyes from leaving Lincoln and heading back up to Liverpool to stay with family for a few weeks before our final tarrah!

Rachael has worked for her school for 6 years now, on and off…so we’ve formed good relationships with her colleagues and a lot of them consider me to be a friend as well as Rachael, so when it was time to say goodbye I was invited to attend Rach’s leaving BBQ. They did up the oriental gardens with Australian bunting and did an Aussie theme BBQ on the last day of school, gifting me with an official science department badge to say thank you for the support I’ve helped Rach to give over the years. It was a lovely day and a nice way to say goodbye to some people I’ll probably never see again. For some, like Rachael’s boss who’s family will be visiting us – it was just a ‘see you later’ which made things much easier.

Then we had to say goodbye to close friends, and this was much harder. We had a night out to celebrate and say goodbye then had a Thai family style dining tea at Greg and Bernie’s (TeamGB!). It’s not even the last time we will see them this year but it was the last time we’d all be in Lincoln together. Our friends Greg and Bernie (and their dog Tilly) are our rocks and some of our best friends. We have been through a lot together and I’m going to miss them most from our time in Lincoln, much more than I’ll miss the place itself. They’ve moved down to Cornwall together at the same time as we’re heading to Australia and apart from later this month, the next time we will see them both is the day before their wedding in 2018! I’m gonna be a bridesmaid! 👰🏼

The Last Cube: Top: Bernie, Luke, Greg, Phil. Bottom: Rachael, Shona, Me

So now we’ve headed up north after a tiring move out of our house. Our belongings have been reduced from a three bed house to two suitcases and a box or so each.:.and we’re back in the north with parents for 5 glorious weeks!

Some people hate going home for long periods of time, living back with their parents asking where they’re off to and tutting at how untidy their room is. I love it, I could live back at home happily to be honest! My brother still lives at home. I have a great relationship With my parents and they have always been very chilled with what we do with our lives and what we choose to do with our time.

So after we got back, I unpacked and had a bit of a wobble moment. Mainly because I was tired and it’s a lot to take in, packing up your life and moving, to move again to a very uncertain future. I’m still excited though!

To comfort me, Rachael turned and said ‘well, that’s the hardest part over’ and I’d literally been sat there thinking that it’s only the beginning of the hardest part… Saying goodbye.