Elton John says “sorry seems to be the hardest word”, however we know for sure that “goodbye” is 10x harder!

So far it’s been a very emotional week for us all, and it’s only Monday! With only 7 days to go before we depart the UK, we have all sorts of feelings rattling around, and its not rare to see one of us (mostly me) having a little cry in the corner. Not because I’m sad about going, but instead sad about the people, things and family that we are leaving behind.

As I write this, my eyes are thick with tears as I think about how hard its going to be to say goodbye to everyone come Sunday afternoon. Its funny how I’ve known this day would come but I never knew how I would feel. Those that know me, know it takes a lot for me to get emotional. I tend to put on a brave face and carry on. For the first time I am finding that very difficult. I keep getting asked if I’m excited, and when I try and think about it – yes I am, but at the moment the feeling that is dominating is sadness, which was not the idea of this adventure at all!

Over the last couple weeks we have been selling and giving away most of our land life items. Slowly saying goodbye to all the things Shawn and I have built up over the last 20 years. From cars to furniture to special items of clothing. When I walk into the local charity shops at the moment its like walking into our house, as I recognise almost everything!

With all those items come memories, now I know in one of my last posts I said its not the items that are important but the memories they leave you with, but it feels like we are giving up everything for this dream! Now that it’s getting closer and closer I hope with everything I have that the dream turns out the way we want it to!

The boys have been amazing, happily selling their bikes and toys and banking the money for items they may want to buy when they get back.

The goodbye all of us have been dreading eventually came this morning when we had to say goodbye to our beloved family dog Barley. It was extremely hard for Shawn and I to watch Dylan give Barley his last long hug with eyes full of tears before he left for school this morning. I’m so incredibly proud of Dylan, he was so brave, and even though he knew it would be one of the most difficult things to do, he had a moment with his dog and told him how much he loved him and was going to miss him…

We thought long and hard about taking Barley with us, but after a lot of research and discussions we felt it would be in his best interest to stay behind. He is a land loving beagle who loves long walks with lots to sniff and other dogs to socialise with. He also doesn’t cope very well in the heat and hates boats, so to take him with us would have been for our selfish reasons. We spoke to the boys about it before making the decision and although they were both very, very upset they did eventually understand and agree.

Luckily for us Barley is a very lovable dog, and once we got the word out that he was looking for a new family to love and care for him it wasn’t long before the Reed family came to us and told us they would love to have him. We were ecstatic as we knew he would get to stay in Weybridge and get to see and smell all the things he was use to, and we knew the Reed’s would look after and spoil him even more than we do!

We wanted to introduce Barley to his new life and home slowly, especially because he would now also have a cat companion, something he has always, always wanted! So its been a month of him having sleepovers with the Reed’s and then coming home again to be with us, giving us all time to adjust to life with and without him.

I think the slow transition has really worked. The boys have gotten use to not having him around all the time and he has had time to get use to his new owners and home. I think the only one who could do with some more time is Rocket the cat. Rocket is still wondering what happened to his nice trouble free, quiet life! Hopefully he will come around.

Thank you so much to Nicola, Scarlet & Keiron for having Barley. Knowing how happy he will be in your family has made a very difficult decision a lot easier for us. He will bring you lots of laughs, love, joy and mud…

I’ll be honest and say – I’m not looking forward to Sunday! I’m going to love seeing everyone and catching up, but I can’t bring myself to think of the goodbyes! So please forgive me if I am a mess.

Goodbye is definitely the hardest word!