Monday 27 August 2018

What it really means being an expat mum to adult children.

We left the UK in January 2011. Child 1 was and still is in a care home, due to her level of disabilities. Child 2 was in Germany. He's now back in the UK and married to 2a. Child 3 had just left home and was living in Reading. He's now travelling the world with 3a and based in Australia. Child 4 came with us to South Africa for 4 years and is now in Northern Ireland, travelling the world with his job and is engaged to 4a. Child 5 lived with us in South Africa for 2 years before we made the decision to send him back to the UK aged 13 for boarding school. He left school last year and is working and based in the UK.

The rest of mine and Peter's family are in South Wales and the Bristol area, with one niece also exploring the world.

We used to take family photos all the time but until the age of digital cameras, most of the pictures were just of the kids.

This is the last photo we had with all 7 of us taken on a family holiday in France in 2003.


It was the last photo we took of all 7 of us until last year and it had been 10 years since we'd all been in the same country at the same time.

In 2017 we all got together for the teens 18th birthday, we met in a car park in Cheltenham to take this picture.


We managed to get the 4 boys together in July the same year for my fathers funeral.

In June this year, child 3 was missing from 2 & 2a's wedding.

In 2019 we'll have the 4 boys together in Northern Ireland for 4 & 4a's wedding.

I have no idea how long it will be, if ever, when we get all 7 of us together again.




12 comments:

  1. The world is getting smaller so I hope you get to have all 7 of you together soon. #keepingitreal

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    1. thank you, we have another wedding next september, all of us will be there apart from our daughter, as it's in Northern Ireland and she is unable to make the trip due to her disabilities

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  2. Wow what a global trotting family you have! Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week!

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    1. it takes a lot of planning to get us together

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  3. I hope you enjoy the near full reunion next year and you get the whole family back together one day. #triumphanttales

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    1. thank you, sadly child 1 won't be at the wedding, but we will all get to see her, just not all at the same time

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  4. It must be hard sometimes having your family so far apart, but I guess it makes the times you can get together even more special x Lovely photos!
    #keepingitreal

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    1. oh it sure is special when we do get together even if we're not all there

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  5. Hi Suzanne, I do believe there are advantages to not growing up in not your 'average' home (if you know what I mean?). Having family that live family that live across the world must inspire some youngsters to want to travel and explore other cultures and countries. It must have been so difficult for you to be so far away when your daughter was in a care home, even if she was getting everything she needed... This summer there was one time that my parents, myself & family and my sister and her family were all together and I missed the photo oppertunity. My Dad did mention it and he's not a photo person, but it went over all of our heads... Hopefully nest year!

    Thank you for popping by and linking up with #keepingitreal.

    xx

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    1. it's lovely how us living abroad has given the children the desire to travel also, just gets harder with 5 of them spreading their wings

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  6. You truly are a global family Suzanne! Yet at least some of you manage to get back together for major family events. I am always amazed at how you manage to keep track of them all but I'm sure you must be proud of the independent young people they have become. Thanks so much for sharing with us at #TweensTeensBeyond

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    1. it takes some doing to get any of us together these days

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