I have a new job! We are relocating to the other end of the country! Such excitements! Such dramas!

The Witchlings, having only arrived back in the UK a couple of months ago, are valiantly trying to settle into new schools and re-adjust to life back in ‘Blighty’. They’ve been doing really well. We’ve been staying at Grandmera’s house and although it has been cosy (this is the polite way to say cramped) it has been good. Then I got my fabulous new job, and our house became available(ish*) and our lives turned upside down.

Wisdom suggested that it would be better to let the Witchlings see out the summer term in their new schools and for them to remain at Grandmera and Grapper’s house until the summer holidays, by which time our new house would be redecorated and all of their things delivered from the shipping company. I would then be able to visit every weekend and see the Witchlings before making the trek back up north for work on Monday morning.

So last night I had to walk down the drive and get into the car for the third week in a row. I kissed the Witchlings and tried to quell their tears and every second of it tore my heart to pieces. Witchling 10 in particular, is not coping well with the weekly separation. Each week that passes seems to get harder for her. She even went so far as to try to hide in the boot of the car last night! Then came the tears and the pleading for us not to leave.

The solution? Well I don’t see one yet. There are still two weeks of term left and I dread them. Poor Grandmera and Grapper are going to have their work cut out. I call the Witchlings every evening and we catch up with each other’s news and the day’s events, but the physical separation is all but unbearable for me and for the Witchlings. But brave faces must be worn by parents. Even when their hearts are breaking.

So Witchling 10 has been left in charge of Grandmera and Grapper this week and was admonished to ensure that everything stays ‘ship shape’ until I can get back. She is a very literal child, as I have aways said and takes her responsibilities very seriously. So after a quick costume change, I left her saluting bravely, complete with pirate bandana, and her parting words to me were\'Don\'t lose your canoe!

“Captain Mum! Don’t lose your canoe!”

Somehow this sums it all up! I paddle away from my wonderful Witchlings, aboard the good ship Grandparent (long may she sail in blue waters!) and so long as I don’t lose that canoe, they know I will be back for them soon.  I only hope they don’t make Grapper walk the plank before I get there!

*Sadly, our house is far from available yet. So we are living out of a suitcase in the spare room at a friend’s place. What fun!