Saying goodbye

The goodbyes have started. I met my friend Suse for a farewell drink at the bowling club last night. The club closed at 7.30pm, so it wasn’t a long drink … but we managed to cram in a fair bit of chitter chat.

I met Suse when the eldest started kindy. In fact, my whole local crew come from that kindy class, which was called KJ.

I told Suse that I will only miss three things about my place when I move: my bedroom, being able to let the dogs out into the backyard for a wee and walking to my local coffee shop.

The local coffee shop route takes me past her place and we often have a chat out the front.

There are a few other people I’ve gotten to know on the walk, plus the barista often presents me with my coffee before I’ve even ordered it, then I linger to have a natter to people who are having brekkie or grabbing a takeaway.

I ran into another school mum there yesterday who, because the world is too small, is married to a member of the bridal party from my sister’s first wedding. She had been doing laps and was wrapped in a towel with bare feet. Despite her shivery appearance we still yakked up a storm for a few minutes.

But that’s about it. I am ready to leave the rest of the responsibilities of house ownership behind.

I felt like a heel selling my grandmother’s sideboard on Sunday, which saddened my mum. But it was too big for my new apartment and no one in the family wanted it.

A woman came over last night to check out Nan’s leadlight china cabinet. Then she went home to measure whether it would fit in her Art Deco house. She messaged me a few hours later to confirm she wanted to buy it and added: “You can tell your mum it will be much loved.”

I read those words and cried.

I still have many of Nan’s knick-knacks and I am excited about my photo project with her black and white photo collection. They will be how I remember her.

There are so many big life changes ahead.

Both kids are talking about moving out in the next 12 to 18 months, which means I may soon be living alone.

It’s a scary thought, but I will cross that emotional bridge when I come to it.

OK, I’d better get going. I need to drop my crappy Renault Captur off for what I am hoping is its last service. Once my house settles I will finally have the cash to get a new car. Woo hoo!

Song of the day: INXS “Don’t change”