I feel better today than I have done in a month or so.  It’s funny how just a chat with your nearest and dearest can make you feel a little better…

Thursday night, Col was working until after 2am – my evening (post Aeros game) consisted of sitting on the sofa listening to him mutter under his breath, curse and get irate at his laptop.  His work was only interrupted on occasion, mainly when I told him to walk it off and take a time out – or, make me a cuppa 😉 lol!

We didn’t go to bed until way late and, as a result, we both got a lie-in yesterday (I love nothing more than waking up to my babe beside me in bed!) and he decided to work from home since it wasn’t worth the effort to head up to the office.  He did his pre-taking-time-off-work-firefighting from home, poor guy! It’s sods law that he’ll be swamped on the last working day before we gear up to go somewhere!

Anyways, I’ve been feeling up and down lately what with being sick and the voices inside my head, but yesterday I decided to call home and check in with my ones.  Ahead of a big trip I tend to drop them a line, I guess there’s always an element of ‘just in case’.  I got to talk to my daddy and my younger brother – which was a bit of a relief cause both my brother and sister are currently ill and I’ve been pretty worried about both of them, so to talk to him and know that he wasn’t on death’s door was a relief.

Like I said on my facebook, it’s times like this I hate the Atlantic, there’s not much we can do from over here when family take ill, it’s not like we can just pop over with chicken soup or anything!

When we’d gotten off the phone with my family, I got a FB message from our friend Lynsey, she asked if I was at home and I’d a feeling I knew what her message was about.

When we got our wedding pictures back, we discovered a gorgeous picture of the McKee family and decided we’d have it made in to a canvas for them as a wee surprise.

So Ms Lyns gives us a ring and almost an hour later Col puts the phone down, we both had a quick word with Lyns and, not surprising in the least, Col and Paul got sucked into one of their conversations LOL! The two of them are deadly when they get going!

As much as I (we) miss them both the quick chat with Lyns left me in a great mood and I’ve resolved to give them a call more often (poor McKees eh?).  I really wish we lived closer to them, on one hand I haven’t known them all that long or know them all that well, but on the other I feel like I’ve known them forever and I know them well enough to know that next year when they come over for the Austin GP their passports may meet an unfortunate fate 😉 LOL!!

Anyway, they loved their present, we loved the chat and although it made me miss them all the more, it reminded me that I do have some truly great people in my life and for that I’m eternally grateful, cause they keep me going when I need it most!

When you’re an expat, a solid friendship structure is essential, this move has separated me from a lot of friends, yet brought me closer with others and I’m definitely learning the value of a great friendship! <3