Moving day. We woke up in one city and went to sleep in another.

I tried to make myself useful while the two burly looking men loaded all our possessions on to the van, but the truth is I felt lost. The house looked emptier as the morning wore on and our footsteps began to echo eerily across its antique floorboards.

The children lay on their stomachs on our bedroom floor, hunched over my kindle while we packed up their lives around them. Izzy glanced up occasionally, fighting back tears as she watched another box disappear, but Jesse seemed oblivious to what was going on around him.

Suddenly the house was empty and the van was full. We watched from the pavement as it slowly made its way up the narrow road. It started to rain. We moved back inside and painted on smiles for some final photos.

The sadness weighed on my chest and threatened to overwhelm me. I wondered if we were doing the right thing. I closed my eyes and tried to picture the house as it always was, full of dust and love. I ran my fingertips along the walls and silently thanked them for the last eight years.

We left on a Tuesday. I wept all the way to the station.

But as the train pulled away I remembered where we were heading and why. I didn’t look back.

Love Audrey xxx