Morag from Manama

The long, lazy days of summer are almost over and it’s time to pack our bags and head back to Bahrain.

We are flying in just in time for the first day of a new school year and, sadly, we will be minus one child as our son is the first of our chicks to fly from the nest.

I know that I am not alone and that many expats will be faced with living in different countries from their children once they spread their wings and head off into further education.

But the time has come around so quickly … too quickly!

In the past I would look on in disbelief at how parents would wave their children off as they remained in their expat posting. Yet, here we are doing just that and to be honest I don’t know quite how I feel about it now it’s happening to our family.

How on earth will I cope?

Being ‘mum’ I have spent the summer reassuring our son how lucky we are now there is Skype, FaceTime, Email, Facebook etc to keep us in touch (all whilst putting on a brave face).

I even marked up a calendar with his holiday dates and booked his flight to Bahrain for his first break. The husband’s credit card has been haemorrhaging as we buy every item and more than what was required to make him comfortable in his tiny dorm. Of course, if I’m honest it was all to make myself feel better about leaving him behind.

So should you see me looking a little lost … you’ll know why.