Missing Cyprus

I miss Cyprus more some days than others. I’ve been missing Cyprus a lot lately and I’ve just recently realised that this week it will be exactly a year since we left Cyprus and headed down South. A whole year!

There are some of our personal belongings that I miss. I miss our lifestyle with frequent summer trips to the beach and frequent park outings and picnics. I miss cycling with the children to visit friends or go shopping. I miss buying very reasonable fruit and veggies in big quantities for €1,70 outside the Frutaria. We miss the food, especially taramasalata, tahina and Yvonne’s home cooking! I miss our trips around the island, especially across to the Northern part of the island when we had visitors.

But most of all, I miss special people. Most of the other things we miss we can live without or find alternatives locally, but the friends we made can’t be replaced as easily! For the first time even the children are talking about going back to Cyprus on holiday and I really wish we could.

So much has changed in Cyprus since we left. The church we were part of has closed down. A lot of our friends have moved on, either returning to their home countries or moving on to work in other parts of the world. The financial crisis has hit Cyprus and people are really struggling to get by. There is a lot about life in Cyprus that would have changed for us in this year.

I know, from past experience, that returning to something you’ve left behind is never the same. Things change, people change ……….. people leave, new people come and things are never the same. So, I suppose what I’m really missing is life as we knew it in Cyprus and the people we left behind. Friends really are a gift from God …. And we’re missing our friends a lot!