Big Changes . . . . .

October 1st 2007

Longworth

A few days of big change for us with Emma setting off for college this weekend.

All last week we inched slowly towards being ready. A steady flow of boxes were packed, various important appointments were kept, and Emma kept herself busy as many of her friends had gone off to Uni the previous week. As the stuff to take grew, I bought a roof box for the Land Rover which I then broke entering a multi story car park.

As a diversion we have been watching old videos that Emma recorded years ago. One of her favourite tv shows used to be "Xena, Warrior Princess" and we have been watching some episodes from some videos we found in the garage. We are both agreed that our favourite villain was Callisto. While other villains were just after wealth or power, Callisto was just bonkers. We always felt she could have made a good series of her own.

This set us wondering what had happened to the various stars of the show since it finished five or six years ago. Searching the internet for info on Hudson Leick, the actress who played Callisto, we were somewhat surprised to discover that she is now a yoga teacher, working through a company called Healing Heart Yoga (http://www.healingheartyoga.com/) and, apparently, leading retreats all over the world. She specialises in Kundalini and Hatha yoga. The thought has occurred to me that maybe she'd could teach at one of our breaks but that is probably wishful thinking. I am tempted to contact her though!

So Saturday was moving in day and everything went very well. We got there at the right time and found our way through the complex one-way system to get to the entry point we needed. Emma's room is an attic room on the top floor of an old building with beautiful views over the chimney tops of the nearby buildings. But it was hard work to carry everything up to. She seemed keen for us to stay and help her gradually unpack which was nice. We had a meal out at her lucky restaurant - the one we went to before her interview last December - and she met her neighbours, who all seem nice. We left her to it late afternoon after she had spent an hour or so with one of her neighbours drinking hot chocolate and chatting.

Linda and I spent the night at her mum and dad's, planning to return to see Emma again on Sunday. She rang us first thing to say she'd had a great time the night before and had made lots of friends, who she had arranged things with for Sunday already. So there was perhaps just a one hour window for us to see her. It's good to know she is settling in quickly, but both Linda and myself found it quite tough going. After we saw her late morning, we had a quiet walk round the city for an hour and then set off home.

I know I will miss Emma greatly and I can't help feeling really sad that she isn't a part of our day-to-day life anymore, but we are so pleased for her to be where she is and doing what she is doing.

And I now have to focus on finishing the Well Being Website and progressing on my yoga course.