School holidays are winding up and like many families in rural Australia, we are preparing to drop our eleven year old off at boarding school.
Andrew is beyond excited, chatting about the changes, gathering his belongings at the door, delegating his chores to his siblings and counting down the sleeps.
I did notice he became a little quieter earlier in the week although perhaps this was wistful thinking on his mother’s behalf that he might miss us a tiny little bit!
Rather than dwell on the separation, we’ve been spending a little quality time together in between the branding, fencing and shed cleaning.
With a couple of the creeks having a little run, the kids have pleaded with us to have a bbq lunch on the edge of the stream the past two week-ends.
They’ve claimed a lick trough as their own and it is now a water craft. A couple of wire fence droppers have been adopted as paddles and they’ve simply had hours of fun.
There isn’t anything to0 shabby about a BLT Burger prepared on a hot plate over an open fire.
We keep telling Andrew that school food won’t be this wholesome!
While we are fortunate that Andrew will only be two hours from home and we will be seeing him regularly, I know the little people are going to miss his companionship.
Today I spotted them sitting on the edge of the stream gathered like this sharing a joke and a packet of stale chips.
I think most mothers have the conflicting thoughts of wanting their babies to stop growing yet in reality we want them to leave the nest, spread their wings and grow into fine young adults.
So change is in the air, another of our children is about to spread their wings and we begin a whole new chapter.
Perfect really …..
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