Wonderful thread. I have enjoyed learning more about everyone. I apologise in advance for the length of my post, but I am 49 and have a lot of ground to cover!
My story: I was born in Pennsylvania. My dad was a bit of a wanderer and I have lived in Canada, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Ohio and Los Angeles. When I was in the 7th grade, we lived in an area in Arizona that was so remote, my brother and sister and I went to a one room school with two other kids! I graduated from high school in Montana and attended the University of Montana. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so I left university and moved with a friend to Los Angeles where we were nannies for a couple of years.
After my stint as a nanny, I had a couple of different jobs, and ended up in sales and marketing at company that develops software solutions for travel agencies. One of the perks of the job was a home computer and a "subscription" to CompuServe. Mr K and I met on a CompuServe chat room in April 1997. I was still in Los Angeles at the time, and Mr K lived in Folkestone. I was planning a trip to England at the time and we met in "real life" in November 1997. After a few visits back and forth we became engaged at the end of 1998. Because Mr K had grown up in South Africa and worked for a time for the South African government, we had trouble with his fiance visa. They claimed that he was coming to the US for corporate espionage! So we married in Jamaica in 2000 and tried to get him a spouse visa. None of this worked, and just when I wondering if maybe I should move to the UK, I was offered a job in my company in the UK. Since I had always been an Anglophile and I wanted to be with my husband I said "Yes" immediately. Mr K had since moved to London for work and we moved to Isleworth in October 2003, along with my 11-year old English Setter Abbey.
The first year was fantastic. I had lots of friends from the States come visit, and it was just great to be truly "married." It was fun building our home together and just doing all those things you miss in an LDR, like going to the movies on a Saturday night or hanging at home, even doing gardening.
Year 2 and 3 it started to feel permanent. My father had been battling leukaemia for some time and then died the day I was to fly back for a visit. You really feel the distance then! And the isolation seemed even more pronounced because friends can't come to visit every year. Because I am home based with my job, it is not conducive to meeting people on a social level. I even considered quitting my job (even though I really love it and felt so much loyalty to my boss) and finding something else just to get out and around people.
I kind of felt that the internet and cheap phone rates were my best friend and worst enemy. I was able to keep in close contact with friends and family back in the States, but that also kept me from really getting out there and meeting new friends. I was able to socialise a bit at the dog park, taking Abbey for her walks and I met every couple of months with a group from Pemberley.com doing Jane Austen themed visits to museums and country homes. Fun, but everyone was from all over southern England, so it wasn't as though we could just pop out for coffee.
In 2007 I found UK-Yankee after a hop, skip and a jump of links from a blog I followed on Live Journal. I felt like an idiot for not searching for something like it before! There was something so comforting in being able kvetch with other Americans about the things I loved about England, and missed about the States and not worry about offending anyone. I attended a holiday get-together organised by Geeta. There I met Legs Akimbo and we hatched the London Area Book Club. (Which still meets regularly, come join us!)
Abbey passed away earlier this year at 17 and half years old. I was so worried the trip and the move would be too much change for her, but she loved having a back garden, and a dog park 50 metres away! It meant she could have off leash walkies everyday. Something she did not have in Los Angeles. Plus, I was home with her, and not traveling as much, so I am sure she thought England was the best move ever. I have missed her dreadfully since she passed, and about 3 weeks ago we got a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy named Lucy. She is now 11 weeks old and just so much fun. Lucy is my avatar photo!
All in all, life is good. Mr K and I have now been married 10 years. My work gets me back to the States at least once a year, and I always work in vacation time around that to see family and friends. I have become involved in my local church. This has really opened up the local community for me. I now run into people I know all the time. I love that. I used to be so self-concious about being a foreigner...and I don't think about that because this is truly my home now!
