Oh God, just waved my mum and dad off back to UK and I feel utterly bereft

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

My lovely mum and dad have been over here for the past month - splendid for me and the kids, a bit of a nightmare for dh (poor love). Anyway I've just dropped them at the airport and am now home - just me and the kids - and I feel utterly desolate. Am sitting in a messy but seemingly empty home and missing them like mad.

What to do?

You poor bugger. Take the kids and get out of the house. You need to distract yourself. Go and get a bottle or two of nice wine to have with dinner when DH gets home tonight - alcohol numbs!

Awful, isn't it? My mum came over to China when DD was born and I bawled embarrassingly in the street as I waved off her taxi to the airport.

I sobbed and sobbed on the way home 9D. To the point where my 3 yr old told me off for being too sad.

The baby has gone to sleep and I have a friend coming soon so can't go out but splendid advice about the wine. It does have some upsides - good to get our house back etc but crumbs I miss them.

DD will get British citizenship by descent when we bother to fill in the forms and deal with the arsey consular staff, and part of me thinks no no no, but what if she USES it to go and live in EUROPE when she's an adult? Maybe I should plant some drugs on her when she's 17 to make sure she's got a criminal record and can't leave Australia

Forget the wine, get champagne and toast the bonds of filial love tonight!

I do know how you feel. The world seems a very big place when half the people you love are on the other side of it. You have to remember it's not, though. If you have a good bookshop or library nearby, go and get a book of letters home from convicts. When they said goodbye, it really was forever.

My PILs, who live in the UK, pointed out to us wisely that when they were young, they moved to London and their parents still lived in Cowpat, rural Scotland. At the time it took them longer to get back to their parents than it takes us to get from Sydney to the UK, and cost them about the same, relative to their wages.

Thanks NineDragons

I am actually a bit relieved that they have gone, 4 wks is a LONG time to live with ones parents. So I will focus on getting my life back. I do like the idea of reading some letters from Convicts - give me a sense of perspective. Did you ever read The Colour? Great book about a husband and wife moving to New Zealand in the 19th C.

"The Colour" is a truly fabulous book, I agree, Claudia.

Ninedragons is your dh a Brit? If so your dd will get Brit Citizenship just by applying for a UK passport. I am going through it at the moment for dd2 (born in Oz UK mum Oz dad). Try this link and check out the regs under the Passport section.

i can totally sympathise with you CS. My parents are in Canada and I'm in the UK. it's horrible.
I havent' seen them in over a year.

Yep, he's a Pom. So am I, technically, but by descent rather than birth so I couldn't pass it on.

We will get around to applying for her second passport eventually. I have downloaded the forms but they are sitting there like a telephone book that I have to write in all the numbers myself.

How are you feeling today? Hope you had sex on the sofa last night, just to remind yourself that while you miss them, it is VERY nice to have your own space back.