This is my last night at home on the farm. I have been here for just short of a week, and already I have to start the long journey back to the US. My Dad's funeral was on Friday, and the day was a blur of small children, close and distant relatives, a kind service and the blazing sun followed by a drenching rain.
Things finally began to get quiet after the relatives stopped dropping through on Sunday, and then my brother ad his wife and three kids departed on Monday. Tonight Mum and I celebrated what would have been my Dad's 65th birthday.
There has been a gap where he should have been, a gap that can never be properly filled. Yet as I told my Mum, he has three successful children, three healthy grandchildren and a farm that gave him great enjoyment in his retirement. He led a full life, and has passed beyond the trials and tribulations of this life.
There is rarely a good time in farming, and at the moment Australia is in the grip of the worst drought in at least one hundred years. Once that has passed, I will feel happier and Mum is already streamlining the amount of work it takes to keep the farm running.
Tomorrow we will drive over to Canberra, where I have a hair appointment. She'll drop me and my baggage off at the youth hostel, and then on Thursday morning I will begin my long trip back to the US. First a 13 hour flight from Sydney to San Francisco (with a day to recover), and then another flight to Arizona. As always I will be hoping that I have an easy time crossing the border.