May 26th

Dear Heidi,

Well, now you are almost done!
It seems a lifetime and yet no time at all since we waved you off in Kristiansand...
And how much you have grown up and learned over this year travelling around the Old World and the New. I am so looking forwards to having you home again and to hearing all the things that you have to tell us, little by little, to share in some of the times you have had.

We are all so very proud of you. You have faced so many challenges in these months, many at the same time, and you have pushed on, straightened your backbone and continued, overcome and won success. You have shown true grit, and that is something worth having. Something worth more than all the certificates and exams, that I know you have worked really hard to achieve.

I hope that you will take a little time to reflect on the days and nights, weeks and months, and, in due course, discard the bad times and sad times and let them run back into the sea, sifting out the good times and cherish these memories as you return to a more mundane and ordinary life on land! Take the best of what has been, and move on in a positive and hopeful way.

Here at home, we are slowly roasting, as the temperatures reach into the upper 20s and low 30s...it feels more like the dog days of July than Maytime! Everyone is just a little on edge with overheating and the garden and fields are desperate for rain. Pappa and D spent this evening tramping the woods around P’s Farm helping to hunt for an escaped bull calf! It had been frightened by all the general excitement of the cows as they were finally released into the field from the barn and charged straight through the electric fence into the forest! They were lucky there wasn’t a stampede for freedom! Luckily it has been found and returned to its rather grumpy mamma.

E and I had a good fossick through the loppis today. I found some drinking glasses to match our china, some few books and a little fabric. Not much really, but we enjoyed ourselves and had a nice cup of coffee and then lunch at home. Pappa is still trying to finish seeding the fields in places were the flooding has finally gone down. W is now on his half term holiday at A’s in Cornwall. It was strange not to go down to watch sports day at school.

Now it is just five days until we leave for Kristiansand and you can be sure that we will be standing waiting on the dockside to wave you all home again. Hopefully we won’t have to wait 8 hours like we did in Florida, for you all to clear customs! There seems to be a two hour window for us to get you all unloaded and changed into your graduation outfit before the ceremony begins. I’m sure it will end up being a bit of a rush, so I hope you will all be packed up ready!
Looking forwards to a wonderful reunion and graduation day!
With so much love,
Your own mamma.