How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard

 The last half year is one of the best periods of my life.

·       Professionally, I was totally consumed by up to 18 hours/day of work as governments all over the world turned to us for help and I had to deal with many overworked colleagues along the way, some of whom manifested their stress poorly

·      Politically, my home country’s back door government has descended further into ever more nefarious dealings while the country slides ever backwards socio-economically

·       Socially, it’s depressing, especially not being able to meet friends for the first few months and even now, I am still not able to meet clients and colleagues at scale

·       Spiritually, the fact that churches remain a restricted gathering place meant I haven’t stepped into one physically throughout this period, though the online masses and informative podcasts helpe

Y   Yet, despite all of these challenges, this has been a most wonderful period for me. And that is saying something, as I have now lived through more than a hundred half-year periods. So, what makes this period the top percentile?

Only one thing: being in the presence of my immediate family extensively and over meals and family activities, intensively. So, despite all my work and social difficulties, emotionally, this is my happiest time. I penned 8 blogs in this period, beginning with one in April about parenting styles and concluding earlier this month on being able to run together with my children, achilles tendonitis notwithstanding. I guess you already know the cause of my joy; this is the happiest moment because my family is together

I wish we could have spent more time together, but alas not every single minute of the day was spent together, and even when we are together, it’s honest to say that not all the minutes there were pleasant. As usual, being all well-educated and even more well-opinionated people, there are differences in opinions on just about everything: from car sharing schedule to insurance purchases and scholarship obligations. For me, and I trust for you too, it is often at these times when our opinions are most sharply divided that we find the essence of our love.

 It is when we are almost at the point of hurting each other with our words and thoughts that we realise that we cannot be torn apart. Both sides will find a way to reach out and as we do so, we find that throughout all our differences, there remains always a common core: that we always have the best intentions for each other. How the intentions are translated into action differ, but the intention is always good. That is the essence of our love as a family. We are always wishing and wanting the best for each other.

J left for UK two weeks ago to do his Masters and M just left last night to begin her second year. I miss them so. The words of Winnie the Pooh capture the sentiment so well