We have made it past half way...

We have made it past half way! I say we as truly this something both Farah and I are going through. Time apart has been the hardest thing I think either of us has ever done, but I seem to think it is a testament to our dedication toward each other, especially for Farah as she was not the maniac that thought this a good idea, myself being the maniac.

Well thanks to the wonders of technology we have managed a somewhat functional relationship over the wondrous communication channels of the World Wide Web.

So thanks for putting up with this babe… and also for supporting me with your love and affection as it does get lonely out here in the land of sand dunes and camels.

So where is my head at now? I have lived here for six months now; I have been to all the Gulf States and more or less done what I had come here to do in a personal sense. Well all I want to do now is move on and start my life with Farah. Every day down is a day closer to Farah and I getting back together and not having to say goodbye anymore. Wow, the amount of goodbyes we have both had to go through….

I can’t help but reflect on the lives of so many of the expats out here (non-white ones) who experience what I am going through as a matter of course in their lives. I mean this is normality for them. For Farah and I it is just one year and then it is over. For many out here it is their whole life…. Spent having one month a year with their wife and family and eleven months working twelve hour shifts for seven days a week. How and why do they do it will be one of the questions I will be leaving this place pondering for some time to come. I mean is life that bad at home? Are wives that happy to see their husbands go 90% of the time…? Just to have more money to raise a family the father never sees? Well given there are millions doing it there must be some rationality to it… but I fail to see it. I guess I come from a different generation, one that values the moment and pleasure and happiness for the self. These guys focus on the life of their family and especially that of their children.

I often think of my parents and especially my father when I think of these guys out here, driving their taxis, working on construction sites and the like.

My father is about to retire after working 40 years… yes FORTY YEARS at the steelworks in Wollongong!!!! And all this time on shift work… constant battles to organize a life and sleeping patterns around the production of steel and the provision for a family he dearly loves. Now although he is focusing on taking the time to prepare his finances for the rest of his and mums life I would like for him to know that I am truly thankful for the gift he has given me; a great life, education and opportunities that he never had. A selfless man in every sense of the word… Self-Less… a life without self, dedicated to others, something we don’t see enough of in the western world.

Thank you Mum and Dad for raising me…. Without you I would not exist and without your love and support I would not be where I am…. And thank you Farah… without you I would not be the man I have become in the past year and a half of knowing you and without you I will not become the man that I will be in the future.

Yes a soppy post, but a needed one, as I am a lucky person for the people God has blessed me with in my life.