Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Today I realised that one of the not-so-great sides of a year of saying lots of hellos is that these will eventually be followed by goodbyes.

I spent the day with Auntie Nanie today, and it was perfect. The sun was shining (actually this winter day in Sydney reminded me a lot of Wellington summer!), we talked the entire time, we sat out on the porch at Auntie Nanie's house, we had yummy kai at one of our favourite cafes next to the sparling water, then we went and watched the sun go down from her porch... it was just awesome. Beautiful, fun, awesome.

One of the things we talked about was the arrival of the printouts of this blog that Mum had sent to her through the post. Yes, another 'follower' of this blog is Auntie Nanie, who still isn't sure about the technological side of how it works but who will be reading these posts when Mum sends her paper copies of the blog each week. (Actually, Auntie Nanie isn't the only person who's reading this blog on paper - Mum is also sending it along to Betty, who lives in Mirimar now but who has been a feature of our whanau since she lived next to my grandparents when Mum was a baby.)

Auntie Nanie and I have talked about so much today and during the week with Mum, but it still feels like there's so much more to talk about and so leaving felt a bit like I was leaving something before I was ready.

Because, inevitably, it was eventually time to leave... to drive back to Michelle and Ness's and to the last two days in Sydney before, on Friday, I fly home to Wellington. So, this was my goodbye to Auntie Nanie until next time I'm back in Australia.

But it's also the first of many goodbyes I'll be saying this year. The next couple of days will involve goodbyes to Aussie mates before I go to New Zealand to say goodbyes for ten days before moving to Toronto... and, I've done this whole moving overseas things before, I know what happens after Canada... more goodbyes. The worst bit of the privilege (yep, see yesterday's blog) of living in different countries is that I'm always far away from people I love... and I have to say goodbye a lot. I'm looking forward to Canada, but I also know that at the end of my months in Toronto there will be tears and promises to stay in touch and memories to be tucked away and the closing of doors and, well, goodbyes.

According to dictionary.reference.com (who says they don't learn anything from their students?), when Juliet says that 'parting is such sweet sorrow' to Romeo, she is saying goodnight and at the same time she describes the parting as 'sweet' because it makes them think about the next time they'll see each other again.

It's 1.05am so it's time to say goodnight. But also, Auntie Nanie, I can picture you reading this blog while you're having a cup of tea at your round white kitchen table, and... I'll see you again. Sweet :)