2. Twenty-two boxes, two big suitcases, two small suitcases, two rucksacks, a big bag and a handbag. That's what we left with, after having arrived in 2011 with only one suitcase and two rucksacks. Oh, and a Bean. When we arrived it was just the two of us, and we've left with an extra something rather wonderful, if very loud.
3. I miss our friends in Milan already. Considering we were once convinced we would never make any, this is quite something. It feels strange to have lost the solidarity that comes with having (barely) survived a month of 40° C heat together. My heart aches to see the Bean and his little friends' faces light up with glee and mischief just one more time. I can't quite believe we won't be there to share the grand "rientro" in late August, nor post-summer battle scars and new-school tears at the gates.
4. Sleep, crochet, and think of nothing. That is all I want to do. Occasionally to empty my brain of ramblings. But really, that's it. I especially don't want to think about boxes.
5. I love finally having time to watch my Bean be beanish, without work or packing or endless to-do lists cluttering up my mind. To listen to him enthuse about the big diggers building new houses in his grandparents' village, and hear him serenade Happy Birthday tooo youuuuu to everyone, every day. To read ten books with him back to back, and not watch the clock while I'm doing it.
8. I can't tell you how much I'm loving the wind. To not be breathing in hot, stale air. To feel the cobwebs be blown out of my clogged-up brain, to smell the sea rather than my neighbour's cigarette smoke. And to rejoice that soon the sea will be a permanent fixture in our lives. Very, very soon.