Hello from the other side.

So the big move happened. Six months ago, almost to the day. We packed up our lives into boxes (so many boxes!) and closed the door behind the house we called home for seven and a half years and the city we called ours for twice as long. There were emotions, and tears, and goodbyes, and all that goes with. It was really hard, but we were really tired and ready to move on.

We spent two weeks in a little airbnb in farmlands just outside Delft, where we had no washing machine (thank goodness for friends) but had sheep and cows as first neighbours. The choice of the inbetween accommodation proved great in the sense that it confirmed that our decision to move to a city was the right one. Yes, in our “let’s shake up our lives” plot we even contemplated buying a farmhouse and living far, far away from our first neighbour, which in Dutch context is about a hundred meters, but still. Living for two weeks in farmlands showed us that we really are city people, so there is that.

And the moving day came. We packed up our suitcases of dirty laundry (you can only abuse your friends for so long), put our cat into a tiny cat box and all squeezed into a slightly bigger, highly packed box on wheels and off we went. Moved to the other side of the country. The whole of 150 km, but don’t let the number fool you, in Dutch terms we moved FAR (so far that our friends still struggle with the idea that we hop in the car, and just like that make a day trip back to Delft).

So much has happened in the past six months. Too much to write it all down. A new school, new friends, job transition, more goodbyes, new family dynamics. Head spinning changes.

But I guess what really counts is quite simple:

There is a roof above our heads (and it is a good one, one of the few things that do not need fixing in this 115 year old house)

There is fire to keep us warm (let’s not talk about the smoke in the cupboards for now).

There is a river to run along (and oh, it is so beautiful).

There are friends to host fancy dinners for, old  and new (and we do like hosting, even if not all of our faces show that).

There have been visits by the people we love (so when I tell my sister now that I am having coffee on the couch, she sees what I see and knows where I sit and how the light falls on me. It is almost like she is with me. Almost.)

 

There are books to read, a blossoming tree in our backyard and time to see beauty in everything.

We are home.