Posted in Personal Journal Blog

Waiting until the day

Posted on by @JeriMooreBrunton

Paul left me in NZ on January 11th and then I went back to the US for 21 days in April and spent our last moments with him in our Naples home that we have put up for sale. I packed and cleaned every day and saw him every evening after he finished work. I returned to NZ leaving my husband behind once again. After several months apart It feels like the days are getting longer and I am wondering how long we will be waiting until he finally joins us here.

We decided to pack up our lives again and make the crazy international move between the US and NZ one final time, but this stint feels especially long. Maybe it’s because while we were alone and the girls were 8,000 miles away we realized that we were best friends, not just husband and wife, and in the end, all we have is each other. Or maybe it’s because we enjoyed the time we had cut out together, laughing, going on little adventures, and filling the space where the girls once were with uninterrupted conversations we had not had since they were born. And because of that window of time alone, our love grew stronger than ever.

We made the tough decision together to return to NZ earlier than planned. We said we would always end up back here someday and someday is now. I have landed in a career I love here and he is leaving one he loved in Naples. I am here enjoying our daughters while he closes shop, cleans, and shows our house repeatedly and he is alone. I can’t begin to imagine how he feels right now. I am sure the days feel twice as long for him and his canine sidekicks.

Our life is a constant adventure and though there are things in the past I would have done differently I don’t regret this move and hope Paul is confident that our future here back in NZ is filled with promise, love, happiness, and peace. I can’t wait until we are all under the same roof continuing to make lasting memories as we watch our girls grow, thrive and play a part in our story as a complete family again.

I moved a lot growing up and they say that women seek out a man to marry that will give them what they longed for as a child and though “All I want is a real home with flowers on the windowsill” (Carol King reference), we have moved repeatedly in our marriage. I think about my sister who has lived in one of her homes for almost 20 years or more and I can’t begin to fathom what putting down roots like that must feel like.

There was a moment in our life right after Paul and I married, that helps me find peace in our hectic gypsy lifestyle and it’s this. Now I’m not always a hippy-dippy believer in fortune tellers and one evening my friends encouraged me to go into one while we were on a night out on Broadway in Nashville. I pulled my chair up to her table and gave nothing away about myself. She laid out cards and read the fine lines in my palm then looked me in the eyes and said, “You will never find the one home you have always been seeking. You will instead travel across the water repeatedly, live near the sea and hills and your home will be the love of those that are important to you.” Her words at that moment struck me deeply and at the time disappointed me, but she spoke the truth. Now 25 years after I visited with that random stranger I understand fully what she meant and she saw what I could never have imagined laid out for my future.

Now I don’t have that one home I’ve had many. I haven’t put down solid roots in one place, yet I have had and have plants and flowers in every home I’ve lived in no matter the length of time I’ve resided there. We grow together through the challenges we face as a result of the decisions we make and always come out wiser. We have experienced the world in ways those around us could not begin to and find beauty in all of it.

Most importantly I have a loving husband who is brave and selfless and will take as many risks for love and to be with family as I will. We have our lovely, brilliant girls who fill our hearts and bring us joy, we have family and friends on both sides of the earth that we are thankful for, and after all we have been through; adventures and situations that are not for the faint of heart, we love, adore and still have each other. I am waiting until the day I can hug my husband again and never let him go.

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I have had a wonderfully colorful life, rich with varied experiences. My ability as a singer and career as an administrative assistant/marketing communications manager; have presented me with a wide range of opportunities. I have been fortunate to work with and learn from some accomplished and intelligent business owners, executives and artists. I have explored the world, markets and non-profits I would have never dreamed of exploring. I started out performing in community theater then professionally in night clubs and working as a studio vocalist at the age of 12 in Naples Florida, my home town. My vocal studies began at the age of 8 with my mother who gave me my first vocal lessons. I have had the opportunity to learn with some talented vocal coaches since those lessons with my mother. With them I developed the ability to sing Classical, Jazz and Pop; which allowed me to make a living in the music industry for over 30 years, in America, Europe and NZ. I became proficient in handling the business end of performing and teaching and developed administrative skills that would be used more prominently later on in my life, which I cover further down in this piece. I managed all my own performance bookings and began promoting myself as an up and coming singer, beating the pavement in Nashville TN and learned how to sell my talents in a place where everyone and their mother can sing. Performing in front of large audiences has forced me to be more than skilled at holding my own. I have also been a studio singer and voice over artist, taught choir and private lessons and was the president of a local non-profit music school in NZ for 3 years. Once my husband and I began a family, my career focus shifted more to assisting others in their businesses, along with marketing and often selling their products. I took on the roles of Sales, Marketing Communications and Administrative Assistant full time. Environments where I have worked in these capacities have varied. The most joy I find in my career is having the ability to tap into my creative side where I have been encouraged to indulge in my love for creative and copy writing, both personally and for professionally. I worked in our own residential and commercial playground company and for a Website development/social media management company and cherished watching the birth of our new products become known to the public and seeing our client base grow. I have developed the skill for marketing and promoting products and services through the written word, but I am also a strong and persuasive sales person face to face. We moved from NZ where we had been for 12 yrs, back to Naples Florida in 2015. I took the position as the Administrative Assistant to the Pastor, at the church I grew up in. In my position there I used every skilled I had acquired over my lifetime, from administrative to performing as a vocalist/worship leader. I am a passionate employee and business woman and find it easy to fully immerse myself in my work while still finding joy in the day to day, what I do and the people in my life. My passions are still singing, promoting, creative writing, encouraging others to pursue their dreams while achieve their goals and being outdoors. I love my hometown of Naples and take advantage of all the beauty and outdoor opportunities it has to offer on a regular basis. Being an active person I work best when on the move and busy, socializing and intellectually stimulated. I also thrive in a situation where I have the opportunity to continue learning new skills. I work on being the best version of myself and strive to give it my best shot every day.

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