The Decision...

The decision wasn't easy to come by. We struggled a lot, mentally and emotionally, on whether or not to return to The States to live. 

I've always longed to live in England and while the cost of living was higher than I was used to, I couldn't sacrifice all of that beautiful history that was right in my own back yard! 

So many things had happened that led me to the decision to come back home. My Mother had a couple of medical issues that arose and I am so close to her that I couldn't imagine being there for her in her time of need. It broke my heart when both her and my Father were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and I couldn't be there to help them through those first few weeks/months of coping with the disease. My Mother-in-law, who also suffers from Type 2, gave me a lot of guidance about what they were going through and it prepared me a little to be supportive for them albeit over the phone and web. 

Neil is one of those husbands who can be self-sacrificing. If it comes down to it he would rather that I be happy above his happiness. We talked at length about the pros and cons of moving back to my 'home'. It was a hard decision to make but we ultimately decided we would have better opportunities living here. 

During the 11 month process of jumping through all of the hoops that the government laid out for us we took advantage of all the things that we would miss in England. We visited a lot of castles, saw a lot of sites and spent Neil's days off adventuring instead of sitting still. We did so much in that time but nothing would prepare us for how heart-breaking it would be to kiss my in-laws goodbye and get on a plane not knowing when we would all see each other again. 

But on November 7, 2005 we found ourselves boarding a plane heading back to Florida. After all of the 'hurry up and wait' that we had gone through with the government for the last 11 months, it seemed surreal to finally have his visa and be headed to start over again in Florida!