Friends

They say that in the expat world your friends become your surrogate families and this week has proven that hypothesis to be true. Our friends have rallied round and taken up the slack. We've had a very gracious offer to host a party to celebrate our wedding, and my friends have collectively offered to organise most of the rest of it. I suppose that Andy and I's refusal to acknowledge our nuptuals as anything other than necessary may have prompted them to take some action and it's nice to be swept along in a tide of something other than panic and sadness at our impending departure.

I can't count the number of offers of general help that I've received in the last few months. I like to think that I'm a coper (or perhaps more of an ostrich) and whilst the pressures of everything are not major (no health crises or financial disasters), compounded as they are, they are certainly challenging. The smallest support, moral or otherwise, is much appreciated when it feels like you're falling off the edge of the earth without mum to call on and be salved with endless cups of tea and an ever listening ear.

Fairweather friends aside, of which many in this life necessarily are, our sadness at leaving behind the wonderful group of people we call our friends is justified. It's bittersweet because having so many people in our lives who care enough to make a difference is a blessing yet it makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye. Hopefully our house in Dubai will be busy and full with passers through in the years to come.