Matt's mom was not only fine with him visiting, she was completely supportive. What a difference a few days makes, you know? Really Matt's only stress out right now is having enough money to cover his incidentals while here. He gets a small check from Centrelink right now while he looks. So, he actually doesn't have his HS diploma, he did Tafe level 3 certs instead, which apparently is considered an equivalent. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Because where he lives is a small town that only gets loads of people during the holidays, jobs are particularly scarce in the winter. That's why I asked him to come in October - I figure we can have him come here and he can have a break, then look for jobs. He's looking for any sort of office/admin job. He's also considering doing grade 11/12 through Tafe if nothing workwise pans out.

The hardest part is knowing he just has to be patient since this will be his first big boy job, and he just doesn't understand that takes a little longer, you know? The other problem is he has no way of going outside of the area since he doesn't have money to strike out on his own, and he hasn't finished the 120 hours of driving to get his P's. So he's working on each as much as he can, but the lack of money is making it difficult. As a single mom, his mom is also struggling to keep it all together. She's not poor, but paying for kids solo isn't easy. So basically, life happens.

The holding pattern at this point really is frustrating, but I'm hoping something breaks after his trip here. He'll have his license sorted by the time I come out; with luck, his mum will have gotten a job in QLD and moved by sometime next year. If she hasn't moved by the time I'm ready to come out, I have to decide if I want to wait until they get sorted, or strike out in QLD on my own and Matt come with me. He's also decided that if he can't get a real job, he'll just go to Mcdonald's or whatever it takes to get some cash.

Gosh, I know that's long, but it's such a complicated situation that literally he can only do small steps on right now. I feel so bad for him because I was there at 20. It's all footholds and handholds.

My current plans are to apply for the working holiday visa. The visa actually lets you work for up to 6 months for an employer. It'd be a year, but a year would give us time together to do everything. I figure if I can support us while he gets a job in QLD (I'm going to assume his mom won't have moved), then we can both save money. I'm going to guess we'll be doing a small legal ceremony, then actual wedding later (probably the same date the following year). And then I can apply for the spouse visa. And, well, if things don't work out for some reason, I can always come home... but I don't think we'll have that problem. I'm praying the foot in the door for him will get the ball rolling for both of us.

Ok, sorry for the novel, but it felt kind of good to tell someone about this. I don't have a lot of people I can explain these details to, let alone have them understand.