Counting down

We have 16 full days left until we fly. I've just counted that we have only five more evening meals at home with five of us present. 

Tonight we have the final official staff social event. It is when we'll farewell some people we may never see again. 

Just had to add in a photo of our
hydrangea that's flowering just now.
Glowing beautifully in the abundant
rain we're receiving.

Tomorrow night we are going out to our traditional end-of-school year meal at a local Yakiniku restaurant (cook your own meat at the table, plus all you can eat salad, dessert, drinks and slushies).

Then next Tuesday things get more complicated. Our youngest son goes to a summer camp for four nights. I go to the 16th World Congress of Occupational Therapists in Yokohama (with 5,000+ other people) for the same period of time.

The day our youngest son and I return, our middle son goes to a summer camp for five nights.

Two days after he comes back from camp we leave this house to stay one night at OMF Japan headquarters (which is a little closer to the airport).

Five nights in Cairns chilling.

Then back to Brisbane.

Five weeks today our boys will start school again in Australia. Incidentally I just told them this and they groaned:

"We miss out on our long summer holiday," they moaned. 

"No you don't. You get another two weeks in September/October . . ." 

"Why a holiday then, Thanksgiving?" (Oh my, our boys will have some culture shock! You can see how we parents end up being the cultural interpreters.)

 "That's just when Australian schools have holidays. Their system is different. And then eight weeks summer holidays over Christmas. Add it up . . . you get more than CAJers." (And I didn't tell them about the two weeks at Easter.)

"Oooooh."

Lots of numbers, that you count and re-count. But in the end they're days slipping through our hands. They're disappearing fast. But not too fast. In some ways I want them to go faster, so that this unsettled stage will be over and we can settle down again.