I didn't realise it had been so long since I last wrote in my blog. It's been quite a ride the past few months. Hopefully a couple of months from now things will be more settled and back to normal - nah, who am I kidding?
Mum arrived for a visit from New Zealand in early April and soon after arriving she became quite ill. It turns out that she has heart problems that had not been diagnosed before. She had to get a pacemaker and stents put in, then when we thought that we were done with hospitals for the foreseeable future, she had a heart attack! Mama mia! Mum was due to return to NZ on June 20 but that had to be delayed because of the heart attack (which thankfully was minor, but it was still serious). When Mum is well enough to fly she will head back to NZ. N and I are planning to go back with her and stay for a few weeks, to help her out at home. Mum is doing OK at the moment, and with lots of rest and TLC we hope she will be better than ever really soon.
As if this wasn't enough to deal with (and yes, it was plenty), we are also moving! P and I are being transferred to the Sierrita mine in southern Arizona (about 40 miles south of Tucson and 40 miles north of Mexico, for those of you playing at home) next month. So while I have been taking care of Mum and dealing with the insurance company, immigration etc, P has been organising the move and trying to find a new house. We will be in temporary accommodation for a few months, which will give us some more time to find something that we are happy with.
It will definitely be a change to be living in a big city again after 3+ years in Bagdad. We've enjoyed living here; it's a good little town that has made us feel very welcome. I feel optimistic about this move and hopefully it will be as good an experience for us as living in Bagdad has been. With any luck the new place won't have as many scorpions in the house, or any rattlesnakes in the backyard - I won't miss those at all. It will be interesting to live in a different part of the state and be so close to Mexico (maybe we'll go there some time).
