Back for good.

We've been back a year. It didn't even occur to me until the kids started coming out with sentences with the word "again" attached at the end. "The ducklings have all grown up again". It's getting frosty in the mornings again". "The trees are turning red again". And my favourite, "the vines are 'getting married' again" - a phrase coined by my 4 year old who thinks the netting on the vineyards resembles the veil of a blushing bride. 

The one year milestone is an opportunity for a little pondering methinks. I hope you don't mind the indulgence, it's a rather lengthy one as my mind is a little frazzled as I recall moving here for the first time 13 years ago with the Pianoman as my boyfriend and a small suitcase of belongings. 13 years and 5 children later and a shed full of 'stuff' - well it all just makes my head spin really!

The question I've been asked the most this past year is "are you back for good this time?". It's a fair question because this is actually the 3rd time we have come to live in Tasmania. Yes, the 3rd! We came, we left, we came back, we left again (reluctantly) and then we came back. Again.  I think you can safely say we love the place, even if it has taken 3 attempts for us to fully commit. It's the sort of place that gets under your skin and draws you in. One of my very first Posts I wrote when I started this blog was titled "My Love Affair with the Apple Isle - Prologue", which briefly mentions the very first trip I did to Tasmania and how it made an impression on me. What was meant to follow was Part 1, 2 and 3, to elaborate on the three different times we have lived here but like so many things, I just never got around to writing these Posts. 

Toddler Eleanor - 2006

So, in a very tiny nutshell because I don't want to bore you over 3 Posts with this, we first came to live in Tasmania in 2000 for a 3 year work contract. We got engaged, married and bought our first home here. At the end of 3 years we decided to pursue careers in Melbourne and thoroughly enjoyed that time of our life pre-kids. We were keen to start a family and the dream was always to find a bit of land in the country somewhere. Despite looking in country Victoria and coming very close to falling in love with Beechworth, we realised how much we missed Tasmania and our friends there and felt it offered the best option for us for country living in terms of affordability, lifestyle and proximity to a Capital City, which was necessary as the Pianoman is a Lobbyist. I know it looks like we are in the middle of nowhere but we are only 15 minutes from Hobart, the Capital of Tasmania - not a single traffic light between our front gate and the City.

So, we came back to Tasmania in 2004, had our first baby and then our second. We saved and searched for some acreage and in 2006 with a 2 year old Eleanor and a baby Charles on my hip, we moved to this farm. Following this, the twins were born and then the Pianoman's work stress (he was a former Chief of Staff to the Premier) hit a crescendo. Having 4 kids under 4 meant I could not work easily and the best decision at the time was for us to get some distance from the political upheaval and move where the work was immediately available and so we went to Sydney, all the while missing our little patch down here. After 18 months in Sydney we finally moved back here. The question is whether we will stay for good. 

Truth is, I have a bit of a reputation for being a wanderer. A family friend says she only uses led pencil when she updates her address book with my frequent address changes. It's not just moving back and forth from this Island, from the age of 15, I seemed to have fallen into a pattern of moving every 2 years - there's been overseas stints, a year in Germany, a year in Canada and then moves within Australia - away for University and then to a few different States. Living like this has meant I have a tendency to get "Itchy Feet" after a couple of years of living somewhere.  I'm not a particularly restless soul. I'm one of these people who loves and embraces change and all the personal growth that comes from such experiences. I used to get frightened by the prospect of committing to a place forever, even after the Kids came along. I would have been right at home living as an ex-pat in a foreign country with the family. I'm not a planner and love the excitement of not knowing where life will take me in the future.

source

But something has changed recently. I've noticed that I have become very attached to this place, not so much the bricks and mortar of the home but this patch of land and the lovely community that it is part of.  I am a firm believer of making the most of wherever you are regardless of whether you are there for 5 minutes or 50 years and I have loved living in every single place I have been. But, if I have a choice, and I believe we do in this day and age, I choose to stay here. For good? Quite possibly. The Kids are settled and we have very exciting plans for our farm on the horizon, which I hope to be able to share with you in the coming months. 

As far as the actual home goes, it takes a while for a house to feel like a home. It's a combination of time in the saddle and shared memories I think. One year on and we still have boxes in the shed to unpack and pictures leaning against the wall, not as a decorative statement, but because I haven't decided where to put them. We're getting there slowly. However, the most important thing about a home is the people you share it with and I'm finding that the more memories that are shared here with our children, the more it feels like home and the more I want to stay. For good. There, I said it.

It is for this reason the above Aboriginal Painting by Adam Gibbs-Tjapaljari 'spoke' to me when we picked it out in Alice Springs a year ago as a present for our 10th Wedding Anniversary from the Pianoman's parents. It's titled "Honey Ant Dreaming" where the lines represent the tracks made by the Aborigines as they wander around the country and the circles represent their nests. I like to think I've done a bit the same in life, made little nests along the way but with the bigger nest resting nicely in the corner now.

So perhaps the best compromise should the case of the "Itchy Feet" come my way is to take little road trips, which is exactly what we have planned in the upcoming school holidays.

So, where are you all placed at the moment? Any plans or are you just 'winging' it? Are you where you are for good, in a 'Forever' Home? For a short time with other plans for the future? Anyone with Itchy Feet Syndrome?