The Move!

Before I post about the initial challenges we faced when we moved to rural Victoria, I’d like to post about something that made me cry during the move.

I already believed that a rural move would not only improve our diet and physical activity, but would also bring us closer together as a family. We expected worse internet, a higher chance of power losses during storms/fires, but instead of seeing these as a negative, we saw them as an opportunity to spend more quality time together in the evenings as a family – instead of staring at a TV or computer screen. Even Santa delivered a few board games to the kids last Christmas in anticipation of some quality family time!

What I didn’t realise was that I’d see the kids working together and supporting each other – in a way they never had in the past – before we’d even finished moving into our new home! Mr T and I worked so hard packing, loading the truck, scrubbing the old house clean, unpacking at the new place and then doing it all again with a second truck (because we own too much!) that I injured my shoulder, developed blisters that bled and finished the move running on pure adrenalin.

We finished the move on the second night at midnight! It wasn’t the pain or the torturous exhaustion that made me cry. It was seeing Boywonder, Tomboy and Miss Flora, who were only 8, 6 and 4, helping unload the truck at 11 o’clock at night. Their little bellies were empty because we’d not stopped to get dinner, but they didn’t once complain about their hunger or how tired they were. They were probably more tired than I was, but instead of finding somewhere to curl up and sleep, they were in the back of the truck enthusiastically unloading the tonne of wood we brought with us to build the chook pen.

 

We were finally all rewarded with peanut butter toast at midnight. Miss Flora fell asleep on my lap before she’d finished hers.

If it wasn’t for their help and the help of Junior Accountant, The Apprentice, TAB, and JAB, and our wonderful friends Rick and Sonja, the move would’ve taken a week!

Although we haven’t had time to sit down together and play a board game, the help and support that I’ve seen the kids display since we moved in has been wonderful.  

No longer having  a dishwasher has its benefits as much as a lack of internet time!