It was gone the millenium when they decided to move away. They had been working for so long and so hard and needed a different style and way of life, a different life. Back in 1999 they thought the USA would be the answer for them and after the visa came through it became quickly apparent to them that it was neither the right time nor the right thing to do. So they thought again long and hard.
Work at the school had become extremely tiring and stressful and Chriss was feeling the strain enormously.
Each day was just another day, nothing new and nothing to look forward to. On occasions it was taking one whole hour to simply travel in the car the crowded, noisy, stressful, hot and humid 3 miles to the school. She had recently purchased the one and only car she had ever purchased in her life and was deeply in love with the machine. The car was the only possession that kept her going during that long, dry late Spring and early Summer. Chriss drove her car with the roof down, feeling the wind in her face and hair, almost touching the energy around her - it made her feel good, as if she was part of some other world. She deserved the car and worked long and hard to possess such a beautiful motor and besides, she needed it to help her through those difficult and stressful days.
This particular morning, there were road works holding up traffic for miles ahead causing a long jam of slow moving vehicles along the busy A road. It was hot and she felt stressed. She reached for her mobile phone and phoned the staff at the school ‘I’m going to be late’ she stated, ‘perhaps an hour’. The member of staff at the other end of the phone did not seem pleased, but there was nothing they could do, but wait to see how much longer it would take to travel the 3 miles to school - perhaps 30 minutes, perhaps 60.
As the traffic slowed to a standstill, the sun beaming on her face, her mind raced back to the weeks before.
She was feeling agitated, irritable and unhappy - as if something needed to happen in her stress packed life.
Chriss felt that she gives too much to other people, she is always giving and never gets back in return. This state of affairs draws out the confidence and energy inside and eventually you just want to run away, to hide away and not to face the day nor the future. This is how she felt. Now she was stuck in this damn traffic jam and wondered to herself, ‘what am I doing here’.
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Peter and Chriss had been married for many years and life was never easy for them. They owned a small house in Surrey and had managed to keep at tremendous personal cost their three children at private school. This was the ‘done’ thing in Surrey many had their children in private schools at huge costs to themselves…it was not the time for paying into an educational insurance scheme and nursery education was not paid for by the government. Every penny had to be found and following the 3rd birthday of her third child, Chriss decided to look for some work which would fit into her pattern of life with the children.
Eventually she decided to train as a Montessori Teacher as she really enjoyed the wonderful holistic approach to education this method offered and remembered with affection the wonderful Montessori School in Devon, where they had placed their first son. The staff were kind and supportive and very obviously dedicated to their style of teaching and it suited George so well. Chriss remembered the beautiful Wisteria climbing on the porch way of the house which had been converted in the Montessori School. The Wisteria was pinky purple in colour and grew with such perfusion that the whole porch balustrade and roof was covered with this beautiful flowering plant. Often the children would stand with their mothers as they walked up the drive and point to and admire the plant. It was the hardest thing in the world to give away your first born to someone you did not know, but Chriss had done it with trust in her heart and although it was hurtful, she felt that she could leave him in safety and love and professional care. George had been happy there and really had progressed so well.
After one year, they had to move away, back into Surrey again, which they felt was their home. It was however the time of the 1990 recession and Peter and Chriss had lost all their money in their home in an effort to sell the house as quickly as they could. It had taken 3 months to find a serious buyer for the house after several people put in offers and were asking for everything they could think of, the bed, the washing machine, the swing seat in the garden. The serious buyers were anxious to move and did not show any interest in the extra pieces of furniture - they simply wanted to move.
Maria at that time was just 4 weeks old. She had been born in Devon, as was her brother, William a few years previously. So to sell up and move out quickly, they had to agree to a 6 weeks completion.
Eventually the day arrived, the family moved out, put the furniture into storage for a week or so and moved into the local Hotel. It was a new Hotel, Chriss remembered watching it being built and it was very popular with the local white collar workers, the suit wearers along the street running behind it.
Peter and Chriss and the family with Maria only 4 weeks old, moved into the Hotel for 1 week, before leaving for Surrey. Peter was working in his office in the road running behind the Hotel, he was not very far away. The family huddled in the hotel room, time spent playing with the children and trying to keep them amused as well as making sure that Maria’s feeding times occurred regularly was quite an achievement in Chriss’ eyes. Previously the family had spent a weekend in Surrey trying desperately to search for a house in which they could live. It was not easy as most of the houses were too expensive and eventually Peter’s boss had agreed to help with a rented house, whilst the family took their time to find something suitable.
One day, at the Hotel, with Peter at work in his office and Chriss on her own with the family the fire alarm started. Initially Chriss was going to ignore it, however, when she had looked out of the hotel room window to her surprise she saw staff and residents standing in the courtyard and she began to panic. Maria was asleep and she had just finished bathing the two boys, fortunately she was dressed herself. She picked up the phone in the room and spoke to reception. ‘There’s a fire in the kitchen, get out quick’ she was told and the person at the other end of the phone, promptly put the phone down.
‘Oh my god’ Chriss said. She grabbed the two boys quickly and gently lifted Maria from the bed,
‘Come on you two, we have to go’ she said. Inside her heart there was sheer panic, but she could not show the boys how frightened she really was. She carefully opened the door to the room and walked down the corridor towards the exit sign at the other end of the hallway. Making sure she still had the boys with her, and carrying Maria in her arms she struggled calmly with her family in tow down the stairs and out through the door to the outside. As she walked outside, it was as if nothing had happened, no one looked at her, no one offered her any help with the children, there was no smoke oozing out of the building anywhere and then as quickly as it had all started, it had finished. People started to walk back into the building again chatting gaily to each other, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Chriss was horrified. What if there had been a real fire? Would anyone have really helped her? Would she have suffocated in smoke with her three children first? She felt shocked and appalled at the way she had been treated and the way she had been ignored.
Not wanting to return to the hotel, she decided to walk the quick 5 minute walk to Peter’s office. She could feel herself shaking with fright - a kind of after shock reaction, she thought. When she arrived at the office, Peter was not there and Chriss felt so disappointed. She then left the office and walked a few doors up to some friends of Peter’s who had an office in the building there. Thankfully they were both there and she was promptly given a cup of tea and they waited for Peter’s arrival.
It was a tough day, but things were to get much more tough for the family in years to come.
Silver Moon
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