P45's, packing and parties

It’s been a long two weeks but we are at the end now, flying tomorrow. Jenn got her P45 and redundancy, a funny feeling packing up and leaving the University for the last time. It’s been such a big part of our lives since 2001. With both of us more or less finishing work on the Friday, waking up on the Monday and knowing that the whole working thing was all over for the time being was the best feeling.

The team from Pickfords came and then left us with an empty home. We stayed in it, camping out in our empty shell, we were glad we did it made it easier to come to terms with leaving it. Then off for a last camping party at Whitwell on Easter Bank Holiday weekend. The sun shone and we had a perfect camp using borrowed stuff and leaving much of our stuff behind for everyone else to use. Hope the kettle makes it through the season without melting even more.

The past two weeks have seen many parties and goodbyes, many tears and much sadness. We hadn’t anticipated the profound sadness at saying goodbye to so many good friends, or maybe it was realizing that we value, and are valued by, so many good people. The feeling is one of selfishness, this is probably the most selfish thing we have ever done. We have asked ourselves again if this is really what we want to do. The answer is still yes. We have loved our life in Norwich, it was a good one but still not the right one. Saying goodbye was made all the more poignant by the funeral of Pat and what that means. With all the extended family our children our now almost grown, Chris and Pat are both gone, their home, the place where we all used to congregate on those high days and holidays, is now to be sold. It feels very much like the closing of a chapter as we all move forward and take over the reigns of the older generation.