The title of this post comes from this amazing gift that some special friends got me for a farewell. This group of friends were my mothers group who I met when I was pregnant with Maddy. Some of them, I had met before that 17 week mark, before we knew there were any issues with the pregnancy, before I even started this blog. Before our lives changed. After that moment, for months I wanted nothing to do with this mothers group and their healthy babies and happy lives (particularly when I wasn't certain I would be bringing home a baby at all - and what place does a childless mother have in a mother's group?) but slowly I was able to move past that - particularly as Maddy grew and thrived and I realised that I too had a healthy baby and a happy life.
When I first unwrapped this gift, I thought it was beautiful, very "Hong Kong". It wasn't until I got home later and showed Bernard that I recognised the scene. Man Mo temple, Ladder Street, Hollywood Road, those steps that I walk up at least twice a week to pick up Lana from school. This week when I picked Lana up, I had to take a photo.
Today, we had our last ever appointment at the public hospital. And like that, we're done with the system. I'm glad that we can move on hopefully to greener pastures. But it is a bittersweet change. It's not easy saying goodbye to the place you've lived more than eight years of your life. This is the place I became a mother. When I arrived eight years ago, a 25 year old newlywed with wide eyes and hopes and dreams, I didn't know how this place would change me, would suck me in and become my home. There are times I can't imagine feeling this much at home anywhere else in the world.
But I know that I will - home is where the heart is and when we move, our hearts will move too. We will grow new roots, make new friends, have new experiences - both good and bad - that will continue to mould us and change us.
Lana said to me the other day, "Sometimes I feel like I have two hearts - a Chinese heart and an English heart. My Chinese heart is at home in Hong Kong and my English heart is at home in Australia". So it is with all of us, I feel. We are at home in two places and never completely home in either.
In 10 days, the movers will come and most of our belongings will make their way back to Australia. In 14 days, we will be making our way there too.
A new start, a new chapter.
Farewell, my Hong Kong.
