lf1

Whew! That's a relief

windsong

So glad to hear you so happy, Sally. Hopefully, your husband is adjusting well, too. And particularly happy that kitty is on the mend.

I agree with you about choosing all that England has to offer over skyscrapers, etc.

sallysimmons

Maybe I'll see you there! We've promised to take my mum to see that because all three of us love Peter Robinson. Last year he conducted a walk in Swaledale where he showed some of the locations from his last book. Mum tried to get tickets but they were all sold out, so this is my belated Mother's day present for her.

Good luck with the house sale and the clearing out process. I surely know what that is like!

PS: If you do come, be sure to visit Knaresborough. This place is a true hidden gem - especially the waterside area.

Beedubya

Wow, 2 reunions going on here!! Lovely posts from you Sally, glad to see you are all settling down well and good news on your kitty. How's hubby liking it back home?

HighTide

Hi Sally....so pleased your move back with hubby and kitties went so well and that you have found such a wonderful place to live. Knaresborough sounds like a wonderful town. Can't wait to start exploring this amazing island.

Your mention of Swaledale takes me back to my college years when I spent a Summer working at the Punch Bowl Inn in Low Row near Reeth. What fun that was and the late night sessions at a pub on the village green well after closing time were not bad either except for the following morning when I had to work. What a beautiful part of the country.

sallysimmons

I remember we talked about this once before, but many of my childhood holidays were spent camping near Low Row, right by the river Swale. The whole extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins used to go together and we had such fun sailing on the river in dinghies and roasting potatoes over a camp fire at night. Happy days! Although it was never my actual home, I always think of Swaledale as my heart's home. I wish my husband was up for living out in the middle of nowhere but alas he gets nervous if he's more than 2 miles from a big town

Bee, my husband is adjusting very well. He's more of an organizer than me, so he's very focused on getting everything set up, but I do think he's enjoying where we are when he takes the time to relax.

shelley748

has anyone heard from Easterdawn at all? I often wonder how she is doing!!!

cheers

I think someone on here talks to her privately. Her husband should be with her by now.

Cheers

Fish n Chips 56

If thats true I wish that person would fill us in...

Celticspirit

Sally, there is something intangibley real re going home for a few weeks. Honestly, I thought I had never left after the first ten days. Dallas seemed like a dream. I slept better than ever with the window open. Fresh breezes and birds early in the morning. I didn't really get a sleep in as a movie company filming a serial to start on BBC in September was across the road at dawn to get started. It is the most authentic victorian street of homes in the city (Rugby Road).
Leaving my brothers house was sad. The weird thing is, once one is back.......the other side of life seems like I dreamt it too :-( My plans are on track......currently opening an HSBC premier savings account. House is ready to market. Antique Appraisal company coming next week to decide what is worth going to auction. Salvation Army lined up for clothes and furniture. Doggies ready to fly.......housing market is ghastly......will hope for the best.....Belfast.....here I come :-))))))

cheers

Maybe we aren't getting the straight truth on the housing market because a house just sold across the street (kind of) and it was listed at $640K I think. There is a lot of new homes being built in the neighborhood to boot.
Is it possible to hold on to your house and rent it? I just hate the idea of it going to auction.
There are a fair amount of Brits going to Texas so I was wondering if you could sell to them?
I am able to sleep better at sea level or is by the sea?

Cheers

Celticspirit

Hi Cheers
Auction would be for old silver, bronzes, paintings inherited from my parents......anything to put some money in the bank. We have lived in this house for 14 years. We have upgraded to hardwoods, granite, tiled bathrooms etc. I just need to get out and having paid off 50% off the house when we married. I feel so disloyal to even discuss this. However......I have vacillated for so long........I just have to remind myself what my husband has lied about including the will after 8 years of marriage......should have figured it out then among other things. It is very scary to be single st 68.....my trip to Belfast has given me the resolve to move forward.....sadly a rich girl who has spent a fortune supporting her husband and now almost broke :0(

brithampton

Hi Sally - I know what you mean about America being like a dream. Whenever I get on the plane at Heathrow to come back to JFK, I feel as if I'm on a rocket blasting off to another planet! I'm very happy for you that you are back and happy and it's all working out so well. I'm going to head back in August with my kids for a few weeks and can't wait, am so incredibly homesick and it's living up to it's name - really is making me feel quite sick! I reckon I've got 2-3 years before I'll be stuck here (harder for kids to make the change) but I'm determined to do it. I'm lucky that there are quite a few other Brits near me that I'm friends with and we pretty much all feel like this to some degree...America doesn't seem to be "all that" for many of us stuck here. Anyway, continue enjoying your new life over there! All the best....

BritInWI

If only you all knew what a force for good you've all been in my life these past couple of years...

I've mostly lurked here since the very beginning of this thread and have read every single one of your posts. To know that there are others who feel the way you do can give so much strength and support, even when they don't know they are doing it.

I came to the US with my American DH 20 years ago. I didn't particularly want to come but it was his dream and I love him so here I am. My mum saw me off at the airport by saying that, to be happy, I must try to "bloom where I am planted". So I did my best and tried to settle and integrate. For a while it (mostly) worked, though I doubt I shall have to describe to you all that sense of not quite fitting in, not quite being understood, just not quite "being".

A few years ago the tiny voice in my head that told me I needed to go home became, instead, a dull roar that it was harder and harder to silence. It would be lovely to be able to tell you that when I mentioned to DH how I was feeling we immediately made plans to return to the UK. But actually, there began an almost three year "discussion" that was, at times, very hard indeed. Where was the point of dragging my DH, and best friend, home if he then was going to be miserable. Somehow I needed him to be completely on board too. Initially he agreed that we would retire to Britain and that we'd try to retire early too. For the briefest of whiles, this was enough and I was more joyous than I had been in years...just to know that at some time in the future I'd be home.

To cut a long story short, by last spring DH had agreed that we might very well continue our Great Adventure by heading back to the UK sooner and now, a full year later, he is every bit as excited as I am as to what our future might hold.

We've spent the last couple of months clearing out cupboards, the basement, the spare room etc. etc. etc (you all know how that goes!) and by some miracle that I still can't quite fathom, we received a full price offer on the house on the second day of it being listed. Of course, much can still go pear-shaped before we close in a couple of weeks but I have to stay positive on that score as I am in a tizzy enough as it is without worrying about whether the sale will complete!!

Those of you who are currently trying to sell or about to start marketing their house, I wish you the very, very best of good luck. I hope the perfect buyer comes along staight away so that you have one less thing to worry about

I'm so tired with the cleaning, the negotiating, the worrying (!) and everything else that goes along with this process. But every now and then, unbidden, I feel a surge of joy that starts in my toes and bursts out of every part of me that this time, when I land in Manchester, I will be home. Home. It's not something I even thought possible a few years ago.

This started out as a "thank you" to every one of you for the support and encouragement you give to the folk who read here...and I hope my little story may give some hope to others who are at the beginning of the process. It may seem impossible, but maybe it's not.

And now I think I shall have a cup of tea before I tackle the things we have in storage that must now come back to the house.

Oh frabjous Day!!!! Two weeks. Just two weeks!!

between two worlds

Wonderful post, BritinWI!!

Thank you so much for telling your story--and how fantastic that you sold the house so fast and for the asking price! (Surely very rare in this market).

Your testimony to the support the thread has been giving you is so great to read. This is the beauty of this thread.

Thank you--and may the Frabjous Day roll on fast and with no more stress!

tina