Moving Home
On a fresh Saturday morning, we woke up in our tiny shoe box apartment for the last time. It was a bittersweet day, as we bid farewell to the humble abode we’d called home for the past two crazy years, and the town we’ve spent five years of our life together.
Our relationship began and blossomed in New Farm. Our first few dates were spent wandering the streets of this charming place. Not long after beginning our relationship, I had unofficially moved in with Aaron and his sister (travelling 20 minutes to uni as opposed to 2 hours was a great incentive!).
After living in a share house with relatives, we moved out on our own at the beginning of 2013, into our very, very, very small and sometimes uncomfortable studio apartment. Although we’d been together for three years at this point, living independently in our own place felt like a significant step.
We also completed our various university studies here. I wrapped up my two degrees in Dance and Education and Aaron finished his Interior Design, before a very successful three years studying Games Design. We grew up here. This pretty little town watched us find our feet in the big wide world. It’s where I made big life decisions, confirmed that teaching wasn’t for me, and threw away my years of study and to pour my heart into photography. I’ve watched my legend of a boyfriend work tirelessly to learn and improve his skill set as a programmer (so proud of that guy). We landed our first ‘real’ jobs here; Aaron with a programming studio and myself with a ‘sensible’ full time retail job. Although not perfect, it was our first taste of the working life, after years of being students.
More significantly than anything else however, was finding my voice. I grew up quiet and reserved and too afraid to speak for myself. As I began to question everything in my life (nutrition, relationships, career choices), I realised that there was greater things out there for me to seize - the power was always within me, I just never noticed it. This is my biggest challenge in life; something that I have been trying to conquer for many years, and quite possibly one of my biggest lessons to learn. I hardly identify with the naive girl who moved to Brisbane five years ago. I lived an eventful and sometimes confusing upbringing, awash with lack of true connection and compassion, and in more recent years, broken relationships and broken hearts. In the early days, Brisbane was a way of escape from my chaotic home life. Aaron cared for me, when it seemed no one else did. I will be forever grateful for his endless love.
In my growth, I’ve gradually gained the courage and confidence I always dreamed of but never thought was attainable for someone like me. Some silly little girl from a hinterland town that no one seemed to notice. I have big dreams and ambitions and a challenging road ahead of me, but I know I can stand tall on my own.
We were comfortable in New Farm and were quite content with not leaving any time soon. Bur life has a fabulous way of shaking things up. Through a number of circumstances, life led us to Kangaroo Point (south side of the river for the first time!), where we’ve set up our new home. Although only being 10 minutes away from our old home, this move signifies a lot for us. It’s an exciting new chapter. Not that we’re planning on being here too long anyway. We have other countries in our sights.
2015 is already shaping up to be a pretty interesting year. As I write this, I’ve come out the other end of a chaotically emotional week (which has resulted in a head cold), but things feel like they are settling down. We’re getting stuck into the year with full force. We have big things to chase this year, and nothing will stop us from slowing down.
xx k