Leaving Edinburgh and growing up

DH and I are bathed in late afternoon sunshine. We’re speeding our way back to London after enjoying two days reminiscing in Edinburgh. We stayed with friends and caught up with others and had a great time walking and laughing, eating and remembering.

Edinburgh has a unique place in our lives and hearts. The place that we met, the place we first studied theology, the place we first lived as a married couple. It was really at university that I began to try to figure out who I was and what I believed. (Obviously now figuring out that that is a project of a lifetime not something that happens in 4 years!) And it’s where I made significant friendships that I still have today.

When we left Edinburgh for Prague we imagined it would only be for a year. It turned out to be 3 and we came back to London with a baby girl in tow! So Edinburgh represents a time when life was simpler, with less responsibility and more time for ourselves. Basically a more selfish time. A time for study, play, falling in love, growing up, exploring, learning and lazing about. 🙂 I feel massively privileged and blessed to have had that time. (And I have my parents to thank for supporting me through uni and encouraging me to work, study and play hard!) That learning/lazing is part of the puzzle of what makes up the picture of me.

As we steam past green fields and steeples on our way back to the big smoke, I miss Auld Reekie and the life I had there, the people we still have there. But I love that I’m not leaving or going back sorrowfully. I love London and I’m relishing the treasure hunt of faith and life that I’m on. I am excited by the pilgrims and fellow seekers that I have met and are getting to know. Edinburgh is where it began, but its not where it ended. And I’ll raise a glass (of Scottish mineral water) to that.