Our last few days in KL were blurry, as the packers ‘hoovered’ up all our possessions. I made a last few trips to the Craft centre where we did batik to try to calm down. We were doing as many batik pictures as we could before we left. As I left Marc and Nina to walk around the artist complex I spotted an artist. Her name was Shima and she had a huge rectangular Malaysian picture of beach houses, turquoise sky and soft sand for sale. It seemed to represent the best of our times in Malaysia and I made an instant decision to buy it, even though it was expensive for my standards, over 2,000 ringgit (about 300 pounds or 500 dollars). It was the first time I had bought from a real artist and I was chuffed to have found her, although I wished I had met her earlier. I cried all the time, the first time with my calligraphy teacher, Ikuko when she presented me with a handmade Japanese scroll. Then at home the kids stopped playing to watch as I wept when Odile hugged me goodbye. It was the same with Victoria, Mahin and Liz. I could hardly bear to say goodbye to our maid, Aimee, who had found a new job with a Dutch family in KL, but had been so much a part of our life for the last two and half years. I had managed to be smiley and positive with so many people I had met in our three years, but saying goodbye to these surrogate family members was the hardest thing ever.
On our last day Hilary and Benoit invited us to eat with them just before we left for the airport. Jacques was staying for the summer to finish off his job and would be joining us in six weeks. That made me feel emotional too. Finally Jacques dropped me and the children at KL airport for our flight to Paris and I had to stop dripping tears and look forward to a summer in France….for the first time in our own summer house.
