Missing England

When we were getting ready to move to England for two years, one piece of advice that I heard (or read) several times was to start taking advantage of the great location right away, because you never know if you'll get sent back early.

Of course we figured that would never happen to us, that if anything, maybe we'd stay a bit longer. We knew two years would go fast, but it still seemed like plenty of time.

But it did happen to us. Just after we passed the one-year mark and started feeling a bit more settled, this opportunity came up, and we knew it would be foolish not to try. I agreed to it sort of thinking it wouldn't really work out. But it did. And here we are.

Now that the "vacation" is over and we are getting back into "normal" life, we've all been missing England, though perhaps in different ways.

I think Ben is handling things the best. He is quite social and ready to play with anyone who comes his way. When we ask him if he misses anything about England, we get responses like "apples" or "chips". He still talks about his friends there, but he also talks a lot about his new friends here.

Susanna, on the other hand, is visibly sad about the move. She says she likes school and comes home happy, but then ends up having a "moment" later in the afternoon. She wants to move back to England, which only makes sense, since that is where her best friends are. But as hard as it was pulling her away this summer, I know it would have been even harder to pull her away next spring.

Even Brad misses certain aspects of living in England (though he is happy to be working here again.) Apparently London traffic is nothing compared to Dallas traffic. He's driven into Dallas several times now (sometimes he takes the commuter train) and he just can't predict how things will go. This point was made clear the other night when Brad was rear-ended while sitting in traffic on the Expressway. In his brand new car.

And of course I am missing England too. I miss the cozy, small-town feel of the town we lived in. The convenience of having most of what we needed a short drive, if not a short walk, away. The short train ride to London. And of course the feeling of just being settled somewhere, even knowing I'd have to move eventually. I also felt like I had so much more to learn, see, do, and, of course, eat! Even after 16 months, I felt like I was still often learning new things about the culture and language.

It occurred to me the other night that we have lived in five different houses (not including temp places) in the past five years. No wonder I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I am here to stay for a while!

I feel fortunate in that one of my few American friends in England was relocated to the Dallas area a few months before we were, and she lives just a few miles away. So at least I have someone nearby who can relate.

And today we are having some nice England-style weather - rainy and a touch gloomy - I am enjoying that, too!