Break it to them gently

One of the things I have been dreading is telling people about the changes I have initiated and fielding the questions and judements of what I'm doing/where/when/how/why/you're crazy! I have been especially anxious about telling my nieces.

My nephew is a little older than the girls and is reaching the age of one word answers so I wasn’t too worried about him, he'll be fine either way. Lately I have spent more time with my nieces so they are maybe a little more attached and sentimental.

I was visiting them this past weekend for Family day. Yesterday morning we all squished into my truck and went to Tim Horton’s for hot chocolate and Tim-bits (or alternate treat of their choice), a little ritual that I do with them pretty often, sometimes with one or two of them, sometimes we all go. I decided that TH might be the right setting to bring up the dreaded subject of me moving away.

So when the appropriate moment came, I told them that I'm moving far away for a different job and I'll be gone for a long time but I will visit them when I can. Then I braced for the worst - wasn’t sure what to expect, sometimes there's a lot of drama and tears that really break my heart. The girls asked a few questions… is Du-bay further than Calgary? (Yes)… Will you still come to our birthdays? (Mmmm, probably not) … When are you coming back? (When when you are 9 years old) … Now both aunties are going away *sigh* (other auntie will be back soon.)

My nephew also had a few thoughts on the subject … Will you get paid more? (yes, part of the reason I‘m going) … If someone else will be living in your house, is that like rent? (yes) … So you’ll be getting more money from that? (yes) … Kewl!

And then the conversation turned to more important things such as the temperature of the hot chocolate and whether the “8-inch Long John“ was really 8 inches long.

Now I need to have that same conversation with my boss. There may still be drama and tears.