4 mths in USA, now homesick for England?

Wow, that could be me writing your posts. I was so terribly homesick when we lived in the UK 5 years ago. I didn't feel like I fit in, and was just barely living my life...wanting desperately to move back "home" to NH. So...we did. I could NOT believe how much I missed my other "home" England. I missed the village we lived in, I missed my in-laws, I missed the pubs, I missed the countryside, the fresh air, the animals. Hubby of course was definitely homesick being apart from everything he knew. I got on with life and put my feelings aside as I was truly glad to be back in the US but I was confused as to how I could miss the UK so much. When hubby decided we needed to move back to be with his ill dad, I was upset a bit as I was just starting to feel settled in NH...but I obviously said yes. Now we're back in the UK and I am LOVING it. I miss my family and certain things about life there but I love life here. Hubby on the other hand is shocked by how much HE misses the States.
I don't think either one of us knows where we are happiest, but I think of both places as home now. We will be here for awhile now until I get citizenship...and then who knows, hubby is already planning our return to the States. I have resolved myself to the fact that we both will always be missing something.

Now we're back in the UK and I am LOVING it. I miss my family and certain things about life there but I love life here. Hubby on the other hand is shocked by how much HE misses the States.

Congrats on your move back.  That's funny about your husband - guess they end up feeling the same way we do about the different countries.

After a few sad days and depressing Skype conversations with my hubby who is still in the UK, I've decided (well...he told me I needed to cheer up) to make the best of it and look at things more positively but I don't think my feelings of being home sick for England will go away.

So thankful for all these posts.  So nice to know I'm not just having a "pity party" for myself - as my mom would say.  My feelings are real and now don't seen so foreign/bad when I read about others experiences.  Thank you all.

I haven't logged into UKY for a while.  I sure do miss all the regulars here.   

I've been back in the US since Feb 2011, my UK husband joined me in June 2011.  We had the best intentions in moving here.  It was always my goal to "go home" to the states and be near my family.  But the job market took us 300 miles away from them, to a good job but a place we really don't like.  And we've realised that while I was away for the better part of 3 years their lives didn't stop and wait for me to come back. 
We miss England all the time, every day.  Especially in this ultra-political season.  US politics (and other things) wind us up something awful.  We're honest enough to admit that some of our memories are rose-tinted.  Our Yorkshire flat with no heat on the weekends was miserable but that's not what we think about.  We think about the sheep in the field across the road, the train station a block away, the castle ruins where we could picnic. 
I used to see my family once a year, now I can see them 3 or 4 times a year or more which is great.  But I tell them the day will come when we will probably go back to England.  We're determined to give this new move a two year try.  After that we'll see where our hearts are.
For every one of you who is homesick for the land you left, you're not alone.  ((HUGS))

We had the best intentions in moving here.  It was always my goal to "go home" to the states and be near my family.  But the job market took us 300 miles away from them, to a good job but a place we really don't like.  And we've realised that while I was away for the better part of 3 years their lives didn't stop and wait for me to come back. 

So very true for my situation also.  Best intentions, good job.  I moved to my hometown in rural south Georgia.  It is a place we have discovered we don't really like but have determined to make the best of it.  Our situation is complicated by the fact my husband's kids live in the UK and are young.  It had been a little over 3 months since we were apart here recently and they had grown so much. 

I feel so disconnected from here, a place where I grew up.  The political season is so annoying to me as well.  I miss things like you do.  I miss walking for hours with my dogs off lead and letting them swim in lakes without the fear of being eaten by an alligator.  I miss sleeping with the window open.  I miss my mum in laws cooking.  I miss watching the news on tv where you here news... not some loud guy telling you his opinion on everything.  I really miss Costa Hot Chocolate.

But I was always cold, even living in southern England- being anemic didn't help.  I missed the sun terribly.  So I, too, tend to look through those same rose colored glasses.

But it has warmed my heart and helped me so much to hear all these posts.  We should start up a FB group to share stories of life repatriating back for the UK.

Thanks for sharing

Great to see how many people miss England over being in the US. Hubby moved here to be with me in the States 4 years ago. Sadly, our circumstances didn't allow for the other way around. We had every intention of moving back by 2017 and unless the laws change (or we get a big money winfall) that isn't going to happen. <sigh> Not a day goes by that we don't miss it over there. I may not have had time to live there, but it calls out to me every day

I've been in the U.S for 26 years but am now determined to return to England. I know it's expensive, I know the exchange rate sucks but you just have to put your mind to it and save like crazy. I'm just waiting on the outcome of the election to see how much longer I can stand it here. Luckily I have family in England who I can send money to and I have started a retirement account at a local bank (interest rate 3.5% - not the crappy 0.1% we get here). It might be 4 or 5 years but I know that I was born in England and I will die in England, no matter how long I have lived in America I never felt at home but the economic opportunity was too good to walk away from. I go on Zoopla.com every day to look at real estate prices and there is just no way I can afford to buy even a one bedroom flat right now but I've put my mind to moving and it shall be done

I've been in the U.S for 26 years but am now determined to return to England. I know it's expensive, I know the exchange rate sucks but you just have to put your mind to it and save like crazy. I'm just waiting on the outcome of the election to see how much longer I can stand it here. Luckily I have family in England who I can send money to and I have started a retirement account at a local bank (interest rate 3.5% - not the crappy 0.1% we get here). It might be 4 or 5 years but I know that I was born in England and I will die in England, no matter how long I have lived in America I never felt at home but the economic opportunity was too good to walk away from. I go on Zoopla.com every day to look at real estate prices and there is just no way I can afford to buy even a one bedroom flat right now but I've put my mind to moving and it shall be done

I think that is how we are going to end up. We have quite a few years before we are even close to retirement age, but unless things change massively we are stuck here until then. On a good note, I was able to open an account in the UK and all my book sales from the UK and Eurozones go into it. So it is slowly building

Good to read all these posts. Have been so excited about my decision to return back to the US, then all of a sudden, during the past few days, have been hit with a sudden wave of regret, thinking of all the things I will miss. Good to know I'm not alone, and that it's not the end of the world to feel this way!

Certainly not the end of the world to feel this way, I agree. You are not alone at all. I still find myself missing 'home' even though I am 'home'. I suppose it is a common feeling among this group.

Certainly not the end of the world to feel this way, I agree. You are not alone at all. I still find myself missing 'home' even though I am 'home'. I suppose it is a common feeling among this group.

Thanks, TamaMoo. What I'm trying to remind myself is how much I wanted to leave the UK only just a month ago. I'm wondering if these sudden second thoughts are kind of rose-tinted glasses - as in, I'm seeing things differently because I'm leaving, whereas if I was still living with them on a indefinite basis, I'd probably still want to leave again. Is this normal? Does it mean I'm making the wrong decision? Anyone have experience with this?

Is this normal? Does it mean I'm making the wrong decision? Anyone have experience with this?

That's a hard one to answer.  Personally you have to do what is right for you.  I made my move based on my mom's failing health and my dissatisfaction of my career in the UK.  I felt in my heart it was the right thing to do at the time.  Looking back, it wasn't the right time - good reasons to move - but not the right time.  My husband and I didn't imagine we would miss his children like we do and missing out of little things like school plays and loosing a tooth would be so tough to deal with.  We all have our reasons.  It is nice to have this thread to see there are others that struggle with the decision to move back to the US.  And many of us that second guess making the move back.

I did what I felt was right to do.  While there is a good chance we will move back in the near future to the UK, I don't want to have any regrets.  Life is short and I wish I had a crystal ball to see into the future.  Wish the future self could have told myself 6 months ago to stay put for while.  But oh well.  I have been able to be here for my mom in a way I haven't in years.

Is this normal? Does it mean I'm making the wrong decision? Anyone have experience with this?

I think it means you are human. These huge, life changing decisions that we've all made to up sticks and move to a foreign country and then back again... well, it's normal to feel regret - or perhaps "cold feet" is more accurate - over a massive decision like this.

I think it means you are human. These huge, life changing decisions that we've all made to up sticks and move to a foreign country and then back again... well, it's normal to feel regret - or perhaps "cold feet" is more accurate - over a massive decision like this.

You're awesome, thank you. I've started to feel better about the decision, when I think about all the good things about moving home, rather than all the negatives about leaving. But I think I'd have doubts no matter what I chose, so I just need to make the smartest decision I can. Thanks again. xxx

Anytime 

Had a coworker ask me today "what's a lady like you doing here?". I didn't know if she meant...here at this job, here in this small rural town or America. 

Now she doesn't know that I am not settling in well and missing England.  Guess it is starting to show. Reaffirmed that I think I should be moving back soon.