life takes over

We are in the middle of our third winter here in Sydney. Sometimes it amazes me that we have lived here nearly three years. There are days when I don't know where the time has gone... like it was just yesterday when we arrived. I remember the day I exited the airport into the heat and humidity, taking in the smells and sounds of Australia for the first time. I remember learning how to find my way around on the bus and the train and on foot. I remember hearing the Aussie accent over and over again until it no longer sounded foreign and started to sound normal.

At the same time, there are days when I feel like we have been here forever. I think back to all our firsts here; all of the things that are now part of our daily life. Things we now do without even thinking about them. We have done what we set out to do here - we have made a life. And it's a good life. We have made the effort to learn about Australia and have come to appreciate so much about this country and it's people.

I joke sometimes that I either love it or hate it here. But to be honest, I have had more joys here than sorrows. Last week I planned to meet a friend in the city after work. So I left my car at home, took a bus into the city, walked to meet her, spent an hour showing her around the city, grabbed sushi, then walked back to the station and took the bus home. As we crossed the harbour bridge, I looked out the window at the lights of the city and found myself thinking, "I love it here." And the truth is, I have had so many of those moments here. And someday, when our time here is over, I can honestly say I am going to be very sorry to say goodbye to Australia.

I haven't been blogging much lately, for lots of reasons. One, I joined Facebook. Yeah, I know. I joined in a moment of weakness when I was really sad and lonely and somehow I thought FB would make everything better. Ha. Can I just say, if you treated me like crap in high school, is there a reason why we'd want to chat it up now? Anyway, another reason I haven't been blogging is because I started a new job in June and my life has surprisingly become a lot calmer. It suddenly felt like I had my life back, and it's been nice to just experience what that feels like. And speaking of life, the other reason I haven't been blogging is because, well, because life has just sort of taken over.

For the most part, life here isn't sort of new anymore. It's comfortable. It's grocery shopping and weekends and dropping off clothes at the cleaners. It's just.. life. And while life is good and we are good, there doesn't feel like there is much to talk about. It feels like the honeymoon is over and I have accepted that Australia is never going to put it's socks in the hamper. And I am ok with that. But I am not ready quite yet to give up on the excitement. There is still so much we haven't done here yet.

So, starting in August, I am going to try and get some of that honeymoon feelin' back. I am going to make more of an effort to find things to get excited about. But first, I need to spend a weekend in bed to try to get rid of this cold.