Monday, August 6, 2018

Four Years in London


Sometime within the past week, the four year anniversary of the day we arrived in London to live passed us by. Z is at camp, and I am trying to keep E's social schedule full since she is the more social of my two children, and this gives us an opportunity to get out and do more without exhausting Z. (Exhausting me is a whole other matter, but I have coffee. I'll be fine.) Because we are so busy (now and always) I don't mark anniversaries in as timely a manner as I used to. But here we are, four years into making this city our home.

There has been a lot of water under a lot of bridges in these four years. We have moved house and visited family and lost pets and found pets and made friends and found our place in the various circles we are part of in this city. We regularly see people we know on the bus. If I put out a call for someone to play with us, I can find someone within two hours. We are a very active part of a church parish that feels like extended family. There are all sorts of things that are normal now and that are possible now because we have put down roots here, and they have begun to grow deep.

There remain very few things to do to make this our permanent home. Really, just one thing is necessary. In a year, we will apply for indefinite leave to remain so that our presence here does not rely on a time limited visa. Beyond that, we would like to get driving licences (if only so we can drive when we visit family in the USA), and I would very much like to own our home. I'm not sure how those things will pan out - I have already failed one driving test, so we will see. But for now, what I know is we are here, and our roots are planted, and we have hope that all will go well so we can stay and allow those roots to grow even deeper.

Four years. It's been good. We are so very glad to be at home in London.

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