Easter took us off on another trip to our home town, Adelaide. Except it was Astro-girl's first plane trip ever. And she was a little trooper! She travels really well, sometimes just needing a cuddle when she's tired. She fell asleep on my lap on both flights. There were mishaps on the way home: well and truly in her "grabbing phase", she grabbed a breakfast bowl half filled with milk and tipped it over - it landed on the seat between C-chan and me, so we both had our pants covered with milk. We laughed it off. E-chan was good also, playing with toys in his seat, and only getting a bit restless from time to time. This is a stark contrast to our last trip, the xmas before last, when I had morning sickness, and a 2 1/2 year old E-chan screamed for half an hour straight (on a 6am flight) out of fear we would crash. Parenting does get easier, people!
Our kids adjusted to a lot of things apart from the journey: strange beds, strange houses, strange prams, with no bedwettings, and not too many tantrums. E-chan even spontaneously said "this is the nicest lunch I ever had!" when we went to my parent's house! I had been coaching him to say "thanks for the dinner/lunch" and "thanks for having us", but not what he said!! Manners are slowly sinking in! We went to Henley beach on Good Friday, to the city and the SA Museum on Saturday, the Zoo on Sunday (saw the new pandas, but they were sleepy that afternoon), and to the hills on Monday. A lovely, but brief trip - no time to do much but see family, which was kind of the point.
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We look at Adelaide with different eyes these days - gone is the sentimentality with which we used to look at our flat, blue-skied city. In the years immediately after moving to Sydney, we used to wax lyrical about the ease of getting around Adelaide, the Central Markets, the affordability, the quiet.
Now things are different:
- the endless sky is slightly overwhelming, now that we are used to Sydney's many hills.
- the city looks like a little toy town
- in the quiet, I can hear my ears ringing (was that something to do with the aeroplane trip, or do I need to go to an Ear specialist again??)
- we stay on sofa beds at our parents places
- the vegetation looks dry - many lawns (public and private) have just been left to fend for themselves, as long term water restrictions and below average rain takes its toll. My Dad has installed not one but 3 rain water tanks for his 1/4 acre garden
- our activities are driven by the needs and desires of our children
- public transport really isn't as frequent
- Crows, Crows, Port Power, Crows...
- unfavourable family traits are these days overlooked as family becomes more important - more on this below.
Many of these things are not bad things - Adelaide is a very good place to live. It's just we don't have so many friends there any more. And career prospects will never be as good there. But what is becoming more important is family. Kids can tell the difference between those who love them unconditionally (such as grandparents, uncles) and those who are just fond of them or good friends with us.
But as well has the support we would get from having our kids' grandparents in the same city, there is another issue looming - the ageing of our parents... While my parents are in excellent health at present, and in their early sixties, things can go downhill fast in the 70's. My father commented that travel will probably get hard from him from then on. That is less than a decade away! I watched my own parents rather helplessly liase with their sibilings as their own parents descended into alzheimers or old age, frequently having to prepare for sudden trips interstate as their parents' health teetered. I was the only one home the night my Grandma's nursing home called to say Dad's mother had died, and had to call my Dad on a work trip to tell him the news.
So I understand the difficulties involved with ageing parents living interstate. At least my own grandparents had other children and grandchildren nearby to check up on them. My parents have no relatives but each other in Adelaide, and my in-laws have one son, who has a recurring illness himself - the rest of their relatives are ageing themselves or not very close. This is something for us to ponder over the next few years.
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