Has anybody else been watching Married at First Sight, wondering which couples will make the move for love?
I’m a complete romantic, and just want everybody on the show to find their happily ever after.
So I was devastated on Monday night when Susan told Sean that even though they’d fallen in love, she wouldn’t be packing up all her worldly goods, and shipping them from Perth to his farm near Maryborough in Queensland. (There may actually have been a tear rolling down my cheek).
Of course they weren’t the only couple that were facing this challenge … Simon and Alene (my favourites, they’re so cute), Sharon and Nick, Nadia and Anthony all had to work out if they would continue with a long distance relationship, or move for love.
I guess because their relationships are still very much in their infancy, it IS a huge call for them to move for love – at this stage anyway.
I Moved for Love!
I know what they are struggling with, because I moved for love many years ago ….
The hubster and I met when we worked in the same office in Brisbane’s CBD.
However, we lived at opposite ends of the city. Anybody that knows Brisbane will know that the Brisbane River is like the Great Divide, separating northside from southside. I was a northside girl; he was a southside boy. It took an hour to drive from one of our homes, to the other.
We didn’t move in together until we got married – the question of where we would live was decided by the fact that the hubster had already bought a house, before we met (which he rented out while he continued to live at home. Good Italian family tradition that one!)
Naturally enough he’d purchased a house in his own area.
So how did I feel about moving for love?
First of all, I knew that we were both committed to the long term, as we were getting married.
So I was mostly excited! I was really looking forward to making a new life with my Bear, on his side of town. It has to be said that I was also keen to be moving away from my mother (even though I’d moved out of home years before) and all her dramas.
The reality however was not quite as easy.
Moving for Love Isn’t Easy
When I lived on the northside, I often had people pop in, which I loved as I (mostly) lived on my own. All of my family and friends were nearby.
I might not have shifted to another city, state or country, but that hour long drive meant that “dropping in” and spontaneous catch-ups, were no longer an option.
I cried nearly every weekend! I was married to a wonderful man, but I missed the ease of my old friendships; in hindsight I think I was also suffering a bit of depression.
After 6 months of marriage I got a job locally, and that really helped me to settle in.
Four years later I gave up my job when our son was born, and once again the rug was pulled out from underneath me. Although I had some local friends, they were all at work during the day. I didn’t know anybody else at home with kids, and I was very lonely.
I did my best, forcing myself to go to playgroup, and eventually we joined a church, but it still took a couple of years before I really felt at home.
In fact, when I was in the depths of postnatal depression, we seriously discussed moving back to my side of town. Eventually however things got better …
Fast forward twenty years and I know that THIS is my home. I would find it very hard to go back to the northside; everything has changed so much since I lived there.
From my own experience I can say that moving for love is not easy, in my case, definitely worth it 🙂 .
Joining up with:
