Way back in December last year I got a phone call from a colleague of mine from my old life in the UK, Jim Williamson. He told me he and his wife, Christine, were coming to New Zealand on holiday in February and would we like to meet up. Well, of course we would! Its been 4 years since we last saw them so we arranged to meet in Bravo cafe in Tauranga on 27th February at 9am. Quite a precise arrangement made from the other side of the world and what do you know - it worked out! It was a beautiful sunny morning and we had a great 'catch up' chat! We also talked about living in the UK compared with New Zealand and it reminded us of the reasons why we made the move.
Jim gave me a photo of the ladies I used to work with. I had worked with some of them for over 10 years and we had become friends as well as work mates. As I studied that photo though, I realised how much I was glad I wasn't there. Everyone looked the same, standing against the back drop of my familiar workplace. The only difference was the lady who took my job was standing with them instead of me. Did I wish I was back there with them? Nah - no way!! When I look back at what we have gone through and achieved over the past 4 years with the move to New Zealand, how much we have all changed and how we have lived through the ups and downs, I know that if I was still in the UK that would be me still standing in that photo, same faces, same background, same comfort zone.
Jim and Christine are well travelled and love New Zealand. They are hopefully coming back next year so I will look forward to meeting up again for a coffee and chat.
1 comment:
Ooooo spam!!
Erm, back to the real posts...
Brilliant post Joyce, Michael (mine!) and I looked at each other with the look of 'oh yes' as we remembered a photo we were sent recently of all our old colleagues at the place we worked, again, same old people, wearing the same clothes, looking the same but just replaced by others.
We also agree we made the right choice xxx
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