The Honeymoon’s Over

They say that all good things must come to an end and I can safely say that 4 months tripping around Europe and North America has certainly been good, to say the least. The return trip was long, with a 3 hour bus ride from Whistler to Vancouver, a 90 minute flight to San Francisco and a 2 hour wait at the airport to get back on the plane and fly another 13 hours to Sydney. Then it was collect the luggage, make it through customs, catch a bus to the domestic terminal to get a flight to Brisbane. Needless to say we were both tired by the time we landed, but walking out of the gate and being smothered with hugs and kisses by our nearest and dearest refueled our batteries like nothing else could. Then it was off home for drinks on the deck and it was amazing how easy it was to slip back into that routine after so long.

It’s been three weeks, however, since then, and whilst the first week was great catching up with everyone and getting back in to the Australian lifestyle via a relaxing long weekend away. It was also nice to be able to unpack and know that I wouldn’t have to be packing it all up again in the next couple of days, but I must own to being a little sad. When we were away it was James who suffered from homesickness, whilst I was practically in tears at the thought of having to return to the humdrum of work and everyday life. And I must admit that coming home has been hard. After 16 weeks of soundproof rooms and blockout blinds it was difficult to sleep with the sound of birds twittering, and the once familiar sound of Kookaburras laughing, at the break of dawn. Difficult, too, was it to sleep to my accustomed 8-9am when the sun, with undeniable rudeness, pushed its way through the chinks in the blinds at 5am.

However, the most difficult of all has been returning to a job that I love, but without the usual excitement of starting a new year and looking forward to the experiences it customarily brings. Somehow, I find it difficult to reconcile the fact that whatever new experiences this year may bring at school, they will be nothing compared to the ones I have just had. So I have set my screensaver to randomly cycle through the 1800 odd photos we took in a bid to hold on to that wonderful feeling that I desperately don’t want to lose. It certainly is nice to be able to look up from the chaos of my desk and be reminded that life is not all about work (and even though I have told myself this many times in the past, anyone who knows me will know that I find it very difficult to disconnect myself from what I do and, therefore, life often was about work) and I am determined to make this my new mantra.

It’s funny how these 4 months gone have brought me so much more than I expected, and I think James was right when he said that it would either make us or break us. At times we felt close to breaking point, but being alone together, with no where really to run to when the tension rose, also forced us to deal with each other - and our own short comings – and did bring us closer to each other and a better understanding of our relationship. But whilst the honeymoon is over I will not see this as a negative, despite the fact that it means the government is no longer paying for me to be a permanent tourist. Instead, I look at it as the start of a whole new adventure, albeit a little more domestic in tone, and like Mother Superior wisely commented, “When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window”. Somehow, however, I think it will be me who ends up shoving open the window; and I always keep a spare key handy so I can fling open the damn door!