The News!

Finally! I can now reveal the news that has been bubbling under the surface of my life for the last 2 months. As you may have seen, I have referred to this news a little recently, and almost gave it away with an exciteable post a few weeks back. So just hurry up and tell us. My attention span only lasts so long! Oooh....is that a possum....? I will be moving to Washington D.C. as of the 27th of Janurary. What the hell? What will you be doing there? I'll be making passports! Lost and lonely Aussies in the Americas will call me up and tell me they lost or need a new passport. Wow. Fun job. How long will you be doing that? It's a 2 year contract. We'll see how I'm going after a year though.....Will be back in July and again at Christmas. I think I will be back for good at Christmas. So, what about us? What about Canberra? What about the family? 11 months will go fast, but it's the right length of time that I think I need to sort out me and my life. Without going into too much personal detail, 2005 really 'licked the bag' and so much stuff has gone on in the last 12 months, that I don't really know where I am headed, but more importantly, I don't really know who I am. That's not to say that good stuff hasn't happened in 2005. There were good times and great people, but in general it was so tumultuous that I am really happy that it is in the past. Hopefully this time away will help me sort out a lot of the stuff that has gone on in the last 10 years and then work towards setting me up for the next 10. Blah blah blah. What the hell are you talking about? Well, I turn 30 in July. In the last 10 years, I have married, had 3 kids, and now separated from my wife. It's been a rollercoaster, and I am still on it. So, aren't you going to miss the kids? More than anyone will know. That is the biggest and hardest thing about taking this job. I still don't know how I am going to feel when I get on that plane and know that I won't be able to hug my 3 munchkins for 6 months. It may even be so hard being away, that I will return early, but the bottom line for this whole trip is that I am doing it for me. Isn't that just selfish? How can you just leave them behind? Yeah, in a way it is selfish, but what sort of Dad am I if I can't show my kids that sometimes you just have to take a plunge and do something to make yourself a better person and to experience life as biggly as you can. I am very lucky that the mother of my kids is being so supportive of this decision and is doing everything she can to help me with the change. Without that, I don't think I could go at all. With Webcams, Instant Messager, Phone cards, Email and letters, I am sure that I can keep in constant contact with my kids, and that they won't forget who I am or feel that, even though I am thousands of kilometres away, I am always there for them. After all, my 2 and 4 year old boys will probably not even remember I was gone, in a few years. A lot harder for my 7 year old girl though, and I hope that she comes to understand why I am doing this... ------------------------ So, that's it. I'll bus it up to Sydney on Wednesday the 25th. (unless someone can give me a lift..) Then I will spend Australia Day at the Big Day Out. No doubt exhausted from that, I will fly out of Sydney with QANTAS, on the 27th of January @ 12:30pm, and arrive in New York City @ 4:50pm the same day. I will use the weekend to recover from the predicted jet lag, and then I'll start work on Monday the 30th. I get the feeling that this year will be one hell of a ride, and I hope that you, dear reader, are interested in coming along for some of it. I am trying to decide whether to keep this blog going, or to start a brand new one for the year ahead. Any suggestions on a blog title for my adventures in the USA would be most appreciated, cause I'm stumped. The best I could come up with was Mick in DC (pronounced, "Mick in Dic"). But that almost sounds rude.

Posted by Mick @ 1/11/2006 09:08:00 am