On Leaving and Home

OK, get the sick bags. This one's from the heart.
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes even the imminence of absence has the ability to focus one's feelings.
I'm heading off today for a few weeks to Scotland for a heap of family stuff, then England and France for fun.
I always find it an emotional time leaving Adelaide, simply because for many years I only was able to come here on holiday but had to leave again after a few months.
It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that leaving here back then was an extreme sadness. I'd lived here for three years as a teenager, I went to school here and fully expected to spend the rest of my life here but at 16 my parents decided to up sticks and head back to Glasgow.
After visiting Adelaide it would be usual for me to cry all the way to Singapore. And while I love Scotland, this is the place where I always felt I fitted in. Back in Glasgow it took me to my 20s before I felt like I was starting to fit in again, but my heart was always here.
Then I came to live here eleven years ago and its everything and more I hoped for. So, visits back to my home country have an extra sweetness now. I get to see the people and places that I love, but also get to come home to the place and people I love here.
Adelaide and her people (Yes her - I really detect a huge yin energy) have given me a place. My 'strangeness' has been embraced and celebrated - a phenomenon I think shared by my bestie, Hawaiian comic Kehau.
I work with a fantastic bunch of people who truly have the interests of the community we serve at heart. I have a fabulous husband and family, and our little house sits in the foothills in a peaceful and friendly street. I have many likeminded friends and my life is very blessed with their presence.
I went out on the deck early this morning. While we're still in the shadow of the hills the sun was shining on Torrens Island and all down the coastline. The sea was a silvery blue in the golden light and a wave of cirrus had scudded in strafing the blue sky with its feathers.
Adelaide is truly the most beautiful city on earth, and I'm very proud to be a Scottish Australian.