The Last Lap

The race has been a long one, much more of a marathon than a cross country, not the sprint for which I had hoped. We seem to have been training for ever (in reality 18 months), regular work outs on line to sift through the hundreds of available properties, intense sessions of pounding pavements as we walked the streets of towns large and small in search of that special place which would call to us and feel like home. Moments when the end seemed to be in sight but at the last minute the tape was moved and yet another 1,000 metres was added to our race.

Now we feel sure that that tape is back in view; our running shoes are wearing thin along with our energy and patience. We have trawled through our cupboards discarding the memorabilia of past races to move house, sifted through the debris from our early years keeping only those things which delight and hold true sentimental value and memories to pass on to the children and grandchildren and the packing boxes now stand empty waiting for us to begin the last lap of this race.

Although we have loved living in our present home I can feel myself slowly disconnecting and letting it go; I feel ready to hand it over to the delightful couple who want to make their home here and with each day that passes my focus turns evermore to the new house, the excitement of new beginnings and life across the finishing line.

I have moved home many times during my life but I can honestly say that I have never experienced such a tough and trying challenge as this one. Emotionally there was much bound up in this move as the reason was to be closer to the rest of our family, both young and old and I was stupidly optimistic at the start, imagining that all would be straight forward. How wrong I was this time as we were plagued by the aftermath of Brexit, a slump in the housing market and the fact that our house was a ‘ one off’ and needed just the right buyers. Our moods have risen and dipped, soared and slumped in tune with our energy levels but finally the end is in sight and like the snail we have just a short crawl until we make it to the finish.

So forgive me if I am rather quiet for the next few weeks as physically I shall be tired but also elated, mentally exhausted but also energised with the thought of creating a new home and practically I shall be waiting for British Telecom to connect me to the internet again and guess what?….. they move at snail’s pace!