Love and Loss, Remembrance and Thanksgiving

Today the United States celebrates Thanksgiving day. We have met so many lovely people while living here in Uruguay, and many great families from the United States.



"Home to Thanksgiving"



Our eldest son is in Grade 1 at the Uruguayan American School, and he has been learning about the origins of Thanksgiving over the past weeks, and today the school will share Thanksgiving dinner together. Friends on facebook have also been posting items relating to their appreciation of the wonderful things in their lives as they prepare to celebrate their holiday.

I consider myself an optimist, but I am inclined to be a worrier and procrastinator, so I am really appreciating all this emphasis on giving thanks. I know being thankful is a huge part of living a content and fulfilled life, but I don’t always manage to do it, inspite of knowing how important it is – strange, I know!

This past week, news came through from New Zealand that 29 men were underground in the Pike River mine when an explosion occurred. Two other men, closer to the surface, managed to escape relatively unscathed. Over the next 5 days continued monitoring of the mine was performed to assess the safety of the situation, to determine whether it was possible to rescue the men, without it being established whether any of these brave souls had been able to survive the initial blast.

We heard about the men, saw photos of them, heard about their families, their parents, their partners and children, and friends. We came to know of their lives, and the people who cared about them. We eagerly awaited news of their rescue. Then news came through yesterday that there had been a second explosion.

Each morning, when I come downstairs, one of the first things I do is turn my computer on. Living so far away from our home, friends and family in New Zealand – even when there are no major catastrophes occurring – the internet is our lifeline to keep in touch. So when this incident occurred, the first thing I would do is check for news of the rescue, with morning in Uruguay being late evening in New Zealand. So for the past 5 days I had been eagerly anticipating seeing the faces of at least some of the men in the aftermath of their escape.

Yesterday morning I was shattered to see the news of the second explosion, and the understandable belief of the authorities that it would not have been possible for anyone to survive it.




My Dad, in his younger days



I felt devastated. So many lives have been impacted on by this tragedy. Mothers, fathers, wives, partners, sons, daughters and unborn children. Tremendously sad, heart-wrenchingly so.



Nearly two years ago my father passed away, not long before Christmas. His condition had been deteriorating over a period of time, and thus the period of grieving for our family did not start with his death - it had started months before. Although it was a relief in some ways to see that his suffering had ended, it was also an intensification of the grief, which I was unprepared for, in a way.

I had to go to the supermarket the day after he passed away, and I felt like I was in a daze as the world went on around me, people continuing to perform the mundane acts of living, while inside my heart was broken.



I am tremendously appreciative of the fact that his passing brought the things that really matter in life into extremely sharp focus. People are all that matter; we have no life if we cannot share it with people we care about, and who care about us. And life is short – we just don’t know how long we will be here for. Of course I knew these things before Dad passed away, but I’m not sure that it impacted on my life the way it should have. I wasn’t living my life in the true knowledge that we only get one life, and we must live it to the full.

The deaths of these 29 men, at a time when I was already well aware of the approaching anniversary of the death of my own father, has reasserted in me the need to be so, so thankful for all the great people in my life.

I feel for these families, these friends and colleagues, and hope that they will find some comfort in knowing the support of their nation at such a very difficult time. There is nothing to say to take away their grief, nothing can relieve the pain they are feeling, the emptiness and overwhelming sadness. All we can do is offer our love, prayers and support.

This Thanksgiving day I have so many things to be thankful for, I cannot even begin to list them all here. But a wonderful life, family, and great friends are right at the top. Having the opportunity to experience life in a different country, surrounded by a variety of new and different experiences, sights and wonderful people has been a huge, amazing journey for us. And soon we will return to one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Yes, I have so very much to be grateful for today. 

Whoever you are, wherever you are from, I would ask that you take a minute to be thankful for the things in your lives that matter most to you...

Kia kaha to the families and friends of the 29 miners - our thoughts are with you. Your loved ones will be forever in your hearts, but may they also be returned home to you soon and laid to rest.

XXXX

“Don’t underestimate the impossible – life might just surprise you!”

Come with me on the tour of my life as we experience life in a new country; my love of all things old, feminine and girly which has found expression through Rosamundi Trinkets - my creative outlet; and the demands and satisfactions of two darling young sons and a husband in a new and demanding job (and did I say, all while having recently moved to a new country, where English is not the first language?!).

So here we are, a Kiwi family (or New Zealanders, the term that you may be more familiar with) living in Montevideo, Uruguay, for the past 6 months. And no, we are not seasoned travellers. And neither are we the sort of people to take chances - the type that thrives on new and exciting adventures.

Well at least we weren’t that type of person until 6 months ago when my husband was offered  a position as General Manager of a Dairy Farming operation here in Uruguay. In fact, he turned the offer down, and came home that evening and told me so.

But that was when something rather peculiar occurred. The conversation should have gone as follows, my reply to him being “You are absolutely right, we couldn’t possibley move to a new country. We have two young boys (18 months and 4 ½ years old), lots of friends who we would miss terribley, elderly parents who we would also miss terribley and worry about, animals which we love and who depend on us for their survival, a house which we are just about to start renovating after nine years of dreaming about it, and I know I could come up with a million other excuses, the primary one being it is just too scarey!!”.

But instead, I said “Oh, maybe we should consider it, or at least find out some more about what it involves before we turn it down flat”. And so we did just that. But we also flip-flopped between accepting and declining the offer several times as our fears threatened to overwhelm our chance of a new and exciting (but yes, also scarey) experience.

The reason I thought we were capable of handling all of this? Simple - I have come to the realisation over the past couple of years that I won't be on this earth forever and that life is for living now.

Now you may well be the sort of person that says that fact is obvious; but I know that alot, or even most people (myself included until recently) live their lives like this is a trial run, a practise for the real life we want to live some time in the future. It has taken me nearly 40 years for the reality to set in that I need to live the life I want to live right now, because we just don't know how long we will be here for, and there's alot I still need to do!

I refer to this phase of our lives - half-jokingly - as my mid-life crisis. My Dad passed away just over a year ago, and that also had a profound effect on my outlook. Still cautious by nature, probably always will be, but now I don't believe there are any limitations in my life - truly. I'm not out to conquer the world, but I do believe the world is our oyster, we just have to have the guts to get out there and give it a go and to be open-minded enough to consider all possibilities as they present themselves. Failing isn't even as bad as not giving it a go - if we are open-minded, it will be from our failures that we learn the most important life lessons.

So in June of 2009 we came over to have a look at Uruguay and Montevideo to see if it really was the sort of place where we and our boys could live. That really helped our cautious natures' to accept what we were about to enter into.

We looked at houses, checked out the neighbourhoods, went to a supermarket, looked at schools and kindergartens - to satisfy ourselves with the things we would need to function on a day to day basis, just like in New Zealand. For me, I think that was the tipping point that meant I felt alot more comfortable moving here, having seen the house that was to become our home, and all the other things that would be part of our lives here.

So here we are - learning what culture shock really means first-hand; my hubby learning a new job in a new country; we are all learning Spanish – a totally new language – with varying degrees of success thus far; enjoying all the new sites and sounds that living in Montevideo and Uruguay have to offer; meeting so many lovely and interesting new people and making wonderful new friends. Life is a real mixture at the moment, still with moments when it all seems surreal.

Am I pleased we made the break and came over? Absolutely! Is it easy? Not necessarily... but there are certainly moments of magic and what an amazing experience for us and our boys – we will never be the same people again! And that is exactly what I had hoped for, for myself and for our family.

My personal lifeline is my esty shop and facebook page selling the jewelry items I assemble. I need to have that creative outlet, as much as I live and breathe. I discovered this about the same time as we were offered the opportunity to come over here - life is certainly full of surprises! I know now to trust my gut instinct; I do get a sense of whether things are the right option or not, and when I follow that instinct, good things tend to follow. Not perfect, not always comfortable, but growth opportunities, and where more doors will continue to open - like a positive version of Pandora's box!.

So my blog will be a mixture of all the experiences that make up my life at the moment. And please be patient with me, because this really is on the job training for me, and my blog and the layout is a work in progress – it will get better, trust me!

All I know is that I want to share things that happen in my life. I’m curious about the people behind the faces of my favourite facebook pages and etsy shops, and I’m sure you are too!

The biggest satisfaction for me will be if reading this inspires you to seek out great things in your life, to follow your heart wherever it leads, and have the courage to do what you know you must. If we can do this, believe me, anyone can!

Right. There it is. Number one blog done and dusted as we move into Easter weekend - so Happy Easter to you all! (Or Santa Semana, or Turismo week if you are also here in Uruguay)

One final thing – here are the winners of the first giveaway promotion for Rosamundi Trinkets: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RosamundiTrinkets

The winner of the vintage diamante earrings is: Claire Ward

The winner of the “Paris in the springtime” charm necklace is: Joelene Pakau

Congratulations to the winners! Look out for our next giveaway - make sure you are a fan of Rosamundi Trinkets on facebook to receive updates on future promotions and new items in my etsy online store.

I look forward to enjoying your company in the future!