Back to New York !!!!!!!

I didn't know where else to post this and thought it might fit best here.  I need to go home at some point and I had originally planned on going back home on June 27th for the 4th of July.  But now I am thinking I'm finally settling in (well kinda better than when I first arrived) and wondering if I should put it off until September.  

The reason why I am thinking this way is because I went home in the middle of March (5 weeks; 3 weeks at home, 2 week vacation) and it really screwed me up.  Yes, you heard me (actually type it) mark this day!!  I, the true american patriot Yvonne Ann XXXXXXXXX am saying going back home messed me up.  

Seriously, I believe going home for that 5 weeks interrupted with my adjustment and transition period here.  I am now just starting to go out, make friends, shopping beyond Canary Wharf, etc.  So I'm thinking of putting it off until Labor Day weekend.  I need to be home for September 11th (it's imperative I am home then) instead of the middle of the summer.

Has anyone ever gone home (back to the U.S.) for an extended period, come back and has had to re-adjust again to the UK? Or is it just me? and I'm totally nueurotic and hopeless....  Hmmmmm, I wonder..    

Of course you're not "neurotic and hopeless"!  Silly Yvonne!  

Contrary to what globe trotters will have you belive, going to another country is a BIG DEAL!  It's only natural that you would feel confused going back.  Hell I'm back in California for good and I'm confused all the time (and no cracks about the "Granola State" being a confusing place anyway!  ).  

When we first moved to the UK it was nine months before we went back for the first time.  I can't tell you what to do because every persons situation and perspective is different.  But I can tell you how I felt when I went back for visits.

I remember when you first started posting on UKY and you were talking about how homesick you were and how you didn't understand the people or the road signs or anything.  And everybody (myself included) told you "It does get easier" and I stand by that.  It does.  The longer you're there, the more acustomed to it you become, the more people you care about and the more it becomes a part of you. - You're wondering where I'm going with this, I can tell.    Stay with me, I'm getting there! - It does get easier.  We all said it, and we're all right.  Except for one thing (and this is only my personal experience keep in mind).  Going back home for visits does NOT get easier.  No matter how often you do it.  At the end of our vacations when it was time to go back and the plane would take off, I'd just look out the window and cry.  I'd cry because I knew it was going to be a long time before I saw it again.  And even though England was where I needed to be or more importantly it was where I wanted to be, it still cut.  Everytime.  And so it should!  California is a part of who I am and the day I don't feel something for it is a day I don't ever want to see.  The same goes for you with New York.  

You're never going to be happy to leave the place that raised you, the place that made you who you are regardless of how long you leave it.  But if you do as you plan and wait for a while before going home and give England a chance to proove itself to you and to make you love it...it might not make leaving the US any easier, but I garuntee it'll make coming back to the UK a lot more fun!

--There, lecture over!  

"It does get easier" and I stand by that.

I agree with you.  If I compare how I was 2 months ago - ABSOLUTELY.  But what I'm saying is I need to go home every 5 - 6 months (travel visa!!! and make sure I country hop...) so I was scheduled to go home June 27.  Now I'm thinking about moving it to Mid-August through the middle of September.  I don't have a problem when I'm there (was telling Glen "I want to go back home" but that's because I was not with him) and not even when I leave.  It's when I come back....I had a hard time adjusting to London again.  Was in a complete downward spin for at least two weeks.  So I'm thinking if I stay here until my travel visa expires hopefully my coming back and "re-adjusting to London" won't be so bad....    I thought it makes sense.  This way I'm here longer and not going home every three months.  Which was the original plan.

I've been back home a couple of times since moving here and will be going back again in Sept most likley (for a wedding) I always feel very in charge when I arrive. A cosmopolitan guy who's moved his children to Europe to be educated, but still finds the time to return fromt imte to time. Fantasy stuff but not entirely.

On my return to the Uk, I feel recharged. I've had a chance to catch up with friends visit places I've missed and had some food I can't get here. With all that doen I'm ready to resume my life here. I've never had a problem with it

I remember the first time I went back home.  I'd been over here for just over a year and decided to go back home for Christmas.  When the plane was landing in Houston I had the biggest smile on my face, I just couldn't wait to see my family and return to driving again lol.  Then of course came the time to leave and I have never cried so much in all my life, I cried all day right up till the plane took off.  Once back here I was really depressed for a day or two, then my husband went out and got me some yummy american style food and flowers and I was right as rain.  I realized I would rather be here with him then stuck back in Texas with nothing.  

I also went back last December because my grandmother passed away, that was much easier I must say to leave.  Now in a few days I jet off to Texas again for my brothers wedding, I pray it is easy for me to leave this time.  

I don't really think it matters how long you stay here, if you stay till September or leave in June.. I really think the leaving portion of it will be about the same.

Think you're right about that

I suppose I must be suffering from a kind of schizophrenia.  I hated leaving California, and I hated leaving Liverpool.  No matter which direction I'm going in, I cry.  No pleasing some people, I guess.  

You just suffer from seperation anxiety  [smiley=worried2.gif]

i really miss everyone back in the states and i would absolutely love to go back and visit, but boy i'm i dreading it.  don't know if i'll be able to handle it.  i'll prob be a basket case for months after i return, hehe.  

Yvonne - it's only a few days away now!!! How do you feel?  

Umm, don't know.  A bit nervous.  I'm not a huge fan of flying never was.....so I tend to get really flipped out about flying especially alone.  

I'm ready baby.  Pulling out all my summer clothes (you know the one's I'm talking about, the clothes you actually don't need here.  Don't even know why they sell summer clothes in the malls.. a waste of money) BUT anyway, yes I am thrilled, excited, and totally psyched.  It is 90 today in NY and come next Tuesday I will be on Robert Moses Beach sipping a cool one, having a smoke and just soaking up the sites and sounds of summer.  Listening to the waves like a baby listens to a lullabyes.

My plan for the 4th is to go downtown to Battery Park and watch the fireworks on the East River.  Even if I have to do it alone.  I don't care.  I have a couple of friends downtown that I may hook up with.

Celebrate my dad's 63rd birthday.  Do the family thing and hang with my dad at the beach.  Cuddle with my little girl and make sure she gets really spoiled rotten while I'm home.  Lots of meat for her.  Go clubbing and basically just enjoy.  Oh yeah can't forget DRIVE MY CAR...with the top down..  Would be even better if Glen were going.  He's never celebrated the 4th of July and I think it would be neat.  Maybe one day.

Oh how I wish I was in your shoes NYSOM    Hope you have a great time, and enjoy the 4th over there.  

Question about you dog, does she remember you when you go home?  I sometimes wonder about my dog Holly and if she remembers me or not.  She does come sleep with me, instead of my mom when I'm home, but I still wonder.

Question about you dog, does she remember you when you go home?

That was the first question I asked myself and my parents when I went back home in March.  And the answer Yes of course they rememeber.  Not like humans of course but similar.  Don't forget dogs remember by scent of smell and voices (tones).  They don't see in color or even shapes - more like shadows.

I know when I'm home she comes to sleep with me everynight just like my Kodiak did.  My mom even tells me she'll go upstairs in my room and look for me the first week I'm gone.  (I don't like hearing that makes me sad.)  After a week goes by that I'm gone she'll go up in my room about once a week and smell around or sleep on my bed.  We're a dog family so they're treated just like part of the family.

But yes, I do believe they remember and they also love unconditional unlike us humans from time-to-time.

Funny my dog will do the same thing, my mom will say where is Stephanee, go find her...and she will run around the house, and winge and winge for me.  I don't think I will take her back though when we move back to Texas, she has lived with my mother for three years, and I think she would miss my mothers dog Abigail, as they have never been apart since Holly was born.  They are total opposites, Holly a huge dalmation and Abby a little Boston Terrier, but they are still best buddies, and jealous as hell of each other  

Awe I love doggies!  My dog Inky always remembered us when we would come home for visits.  So did Kissy (the Cat) actually.

Inky has since passed away and wasn't here the last time we came back.  His presence is sorely missed.  :'(

It's weird though because we have two cats and a dog in this house.  The dog and one of the cats is my grandma's and the other cat is mine.  The two animals that are my gradma's sleep with her at night, but the cat that is ours still sleeps with me and my mom now that we're back.