Bon Voyage

This is the first official blog entry from England. Why, you may ask, is it that we have been in England for two weeks and have not yet posted anything to the blog, or the flickr site? Well, let's just say that the superiority of the British is not readily apparent when it comes to household technology. What's with the washing machine and dryer being in the kitchen? Aside from that, we are also without telephone, internet and cable at home and will be until approximately October!! So for now I sit in the public library in Leeds, and it will have to suffice.

It was a little scary to pack up our whole life into suitcases and boxes (as indicated in a previous post as well). We are still waiting for the boxes to arrive! Regardless, we are settling in slowly, but surely to life in the UK. Although we already miss all of you back home. It was great to see so many of you at various gatherings before we left. Hopefully that tides us over until some of you come for a visit!!

Pager Free!

Today is a monumental day in the process of preparing to move to England. It's not the day we moved out of our house. Nor is it the day we packed all of our belongings into suitcases. Likewise, it is not even the day on which we fly across the pond. Similar to these other events today carries with it the same anticipation and relief. Today is the day I get rid of my pager!!

For better or for worse the pager has been a part of my life since I started the midwifery education program in 1999. The volume and intensity of pages received has varied over that time, but the impact on one's life remains constant. I have a love-hate relationship with the pager.

I do appreciate the freedom of having a pager as it means that one can leave their house and carry on with life without sitting by the phone waiting for someone to call. I also appreciate how it contributes to the kind of care midwives in Ontario provide. I think continuity of care is essential for clients and for midwives. I have always found that when my pager goes off in the middle of the night and I am instantly thrust into top performance mode that I am glad it is for the care of a client that I have come to know over months of being with them in preparation and anticipation of their birth. I think it would be a much harder wake up call if the bell tolls for some random person off the street with whom you have no connection.

The disadvantages of the pager are obvious, and many friends and family who may be reading this have experienced some of these consequences--having to stay within a certain radius of Hamilton at all times when on call, missing social events of various significance, being a friend of questionable dependency. The presence of the pager even alters personal habits. For example, bedtime was strictly adhered to so that I could be well rested in the event of a middle of the night birth.

Today I bid farewell to this long time companion. It will no doubt haunt me for a few weeks. I will jump at every ringing sound, thinking that it is my pager going off, and I will continuously check my purse and my right hip to ensure that I have my pager before leaving the house. When it finally sinks in that this new phase of life will be pager free, what will life be like?

The anticipation of the freedom of living a life without a pager is one of the thoughts that excites me about our little adventure abroad. Imagine being able to make plans for every single weekend, instead of cramming all our fun into every other weekend. Imagine going to bed whenever I want and not having to weigh the pros and cons of my responsibility. Imagine being able to procrastinate on my school work without fear of the lack of future time available because of pending births. The fun, carefree, worry-free, relaxed Beth might just reappear. I will let you know if I find her.

Who Invited the Packing Nazi?

Our apologies regarding the lack of postings. It has been very busy. What? Fine. It wasn't busy for a very long while and then all these empty boxes showed up and someone said they needed to be filled with all our stuff. Whatever. I starting filling the boxes. Then someone (known only as the Packing Nazi) indicated that my free-form packing methods (ie. kitchen stuff mixed with books mixed with food) wouldn't work. Food had to be given or thrown away. Kitchen stuff had to be packed with kitchen stuff and so on. I gave in but only because I had heroically attempted to consume our remaining liquor the previous evening and was a little under the weather and in no mood for arguing.

A big thank you to 1800 GOT JUNK for taking away a garage full of stuff. It wasn't really junk, I was just sick of packing. My apologies to anyone whose stuff was carted away by the GOT JUNK guys. Itemize your losses and send me a bill. I'll see its given the attention it deserves.

So, we are now firmly ensconced in Guelph and enjoying a relaxing last few days before departing. Thanks to all who have been in touch to say goodbye. We'll post pictures from the party and various get togethers when we have more time.