I feel a bit like I’ve been in a time warp. Moving back to a country I haven’t lived in for over a decade, and a city I haven’t lived in for even longer has been many things. Slightly weird is one of them.
This afternoon some items I’d had in storage since 2001 (when I moved to the US ) were delivered to my new home here in Melbourne. Of course my husband and I had no idea back then how long we would be gone or we’d never have bothered to store them. Off the truck came four big boxes. I had long since forgotten what I’d packed inside them so opening them up felt a little like opening up a long lost Egyptian tomb… what treasures would I discover inside?
As luck would have it, not much.
What emerged from under copious amounts of wrapping paper was not so much treasure but worthless relics from a distant past, including a ton of dirty old plant tubs, complete with dried prehistoric snails (honestly what was I thinking?!) and archaically large medieval cordless phone – which my 9 year old son of Matthew, posing here as Maxwell Smart – thought was pretty darn cool. Nearly as cool as I thought it was when I bought it back last century.
A lot has changed since I last lived in Australia. From the technology I used to communicate with to the faces on TV. Some Aussie’s have obviously hit the big time since I last lived here, and some others have fallen from grace. There have been many who have made millions (particularly those involved in Australia’s booming mining industry), and others who have lost it. As I’ve run into old university/college friends, I’ve also heard sad stories of old friends whose lives have been derailed by addiction – drugs, alcohol and gambling. Sadder still are the stories I’ve heard of those who are no longer alive.
Other stories I’ve heard have absolutely delighted me. Friends who have started businesses that are now going global. Old classmates that have over come huge hurdles, and are now thriving. People who were only teenagers when I left in 2001 who are now international super stars.
What has occurred to me as I’ve planted myself back into Aussie soil, is just how much anyone’s life can change over the course of a decade. For better and for worse. And I can’t help but wonder, what else will change in the decade ahead? For you, for me, and across the globe? [Read more…]