Happy Anniversary to us!

Three Years.

Three Years in Aotearoa.

I am someone who takes the time to reflect at anniversaries/milestones. I look back and forward and within, and with every anniversary of moving to New Zealand, I set aside time for Randy and I to do this with the children as well.

Yesterday, when I reminded the kids that today (August 12th for those of you in different time zones) will mark three years since we landed on New Zealand shores, I listened and watched as they reacted to the information.

As an immigrant child who suffered from overwhelming home sickness for years, I always remind them that they are allowed to miss things from their old life and old home and that it is OK to express those feelings. The feedback I got was that of satisfaction and joy and that the few things they missed were not significant enough to warrant them wanting to move back to the United States. Randy I thanked them for their great attitudes and praised their resilience and adaptability during this process of transition, but I realized that it is so far behind them in their minds that they just feel like they are living, not adjusting.

We mused that in a few years, Kai would have been living here the same amount of years that he lived in his country of birth.

The children expressed how much they loved their friends and their school - with the exception that Makayla still misses sitting at a desk during teaching time instead of on the floor on the rug like they often do in her classroom and they all miss having an actual school cafeteria. Here, the kids eat on the grass or on benches around the school, etc. Kai loves that he can run around school all day barefoot and they all love all of the activities they've been able to participate in through the schools. Makayla and Kai seemed to have already taken for granted having a 180 degree view of the ocean from their classrooms and school campus. It still takes my breath away whenever I go to their school. A far cry from any view I had going to school in Arizona.

Earlier yesterday, Randy and I had brunch and did our separate debrief. We still feel strongly that this was the best decision we'd ever made, even with the challenges he's faced in getting back into the work force here. I think that of all the members of the family, Randy was the one with potentially the least to gain from the move and between the pandemic which came just as his private chef catering business was finally taking off, and the move, he has paid the most professionally. Even then, he has been steadfast in his belief that we are better here. I have watched him redirect multiple times in the 19 years that I've known him, often moving and switching gears in order to stay on my unwavering path. That man has resilience for days, and a clarity of purpose that not many husbands and fathers have. I reminded him of that today.

The 14th also marks one year of me working as a private gynaecologist, having my own practice and patients. Randy is whipping up some caramel brownies for me to take to the clinic as we speak.

I am proud of the Sillik family for doing the hard things and reaping the rewards.

Happy Anniversary to Us!