Hello from USA, missing the UK

I found this website a few months back and I just love it. The pictures are stunning and looking back, I wish I had really taken the opportunity to travel all over England.

 I have been living in the US for about 13 years, 6 in NJ and & 7 in AZ. I am from the UK and my hubby is American. I have always missed home, family and friends, but the last 5 years or so the homesickness, nostalgia, remembering fun childhood days in the UK have been so intense, that I know I'm driving my family up the wall!

This website has been wonderful, in that I can have my trips down memory lane and show family and friends over here, just how lovely England is. But the nostalgia is quite overwhelming. I really feel that since moving to AZ, these feelings have become worse, since the southwest is so different from anywhere else, just brown, dry, desert and intensely hot for 8 months of the year. I used to mainly miss family, friends, food and some shops, but in the last few years, I am also  missing cobbled streets, the quaint villages, the city scene, high streets, villages, rolling green hills, seeing people around, family friendly pubs with wooden table and chairs on the side of narrow country roads, even actual buildings and houses, and so much more.  AZ,  and the US in general are not like home, although very nice and the constant sun and heat is overwhelming and as a result people are stuck indoors with the A/C. 90 degrees fahrenheit today and its only the beginning of April!!

I have been nagging the hubby that we need to move to a state with 4 seasons even if we can't move to England, but difficult due to recession and not knowing if the family will be able to adjust to work, lifestyle, schools etc in the UK.  Am I just going through a phase, is it AZ, or do I need a visit back, I am sorry for the rant, I hope i can mention these things, and from the discussions, this forum seems really knowledgeable, close knit and understanding. I do not want to upset any Americans, I just miss the home I left 13 years ago and can't seem to re-create it here. I am wondering is home still the same as I left it? The pictures seem to suggest that it is.

Thank you

Dee.

Hi Dee, welcome to the Forums - you are having a bad bout of homesick blues aren't you?  We left England 40 years ago this year, and I still get homesick, for all the same things you mention - except perhaps for having to live through cold, wet winters!

I found on going back to England for visits that it does appear to be the same, and that is both cozy and comforting, but WE change and have adapted to a new and different situation, so we don't fit in in quite the same way anymore, our accents are different as well so we are seen as "foreigners" (not that it takes long to revert to your old accent).  

But the history and the scenery and the villages and all the water everywhere, are worth visiting when ever you possibly can. (Puts the homesickness into remission for a while!) or keep looking at the pictures of POE that does a lot towards soothing the need!

I don't think I will ever be anything but "English"  never mind how long I have been away!! lol

hello dee

i hope you do get your  wishes one comming back for a holiday and two move to another state with 4 seasons?

iam glad you found this website where the people are Lovely so  have fun

Ho

ps becarefull of big Ron he picks on me  LOL

Wow! Dee, you really have got it bad haven't you? However, it's wonderful that you have found POE and despite it having taken 'months' to decide to join us here in the forum (where we really have got a fabulous bunch of members - even Shaun above Lol) you can now share similar 'home related' issue's.

You will find members here in the forum who may well be your neighbours, and make no mistake they too will be welcoming you shortly.

Oh by the way, I'm big Ron that Shaun refer's to above. I really don't pick on anybody - just wish he would get a haircut! Lol

Anyway welcome to POE Dee and enjoy it like we all do.

Hello Dee!

I left England for the barren Nevada desert nearly 19 years ago, and was homesick for about 18 of those.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit home every year, thanks to my 'dad' Bert paying for me allot of the time. But sadly he passed away last year, so I'm on my own.

Now when I go home, I will have to visit Ron, he can be my new dad    (Don't worry, Ron knows I'm only kidding  )

Anyway, welcome to POE, it's a great way to get your England fix.

Hi, everyone, thank you so much for making me feel welcome, you guys are such lovely and very polite bunch of people.  Thanks for your responses. There are so many people who are in such awful predicaments that I can not compare myself to them at all. I am grateful for a roof over my head, my family and the fact that I have such fond memories of home. These memories do make me feel sad, but I need to re-create these memories for my growing family here. Maybe one of these days, we may move back, but til then, I am glad that I can share your lovely pics and also somehow feel settled somewhere in the US.

Stephanie, I was born and brought up in High Wycombe and enjoyed our family trips all around Buckinghamshire (cookham Dean, Beaconsfield, West Wycombe, chalfonts, marlow  etc ), my dad used to drive us all over the place on the country roads, it was great. Did'nt realise then, but crave it now. I went to University in wolverhampton, Dudley campus, and also spent 2 years in Blackburn college (LancashireLove).  Spent alot of time in the surrounding countryside of melto mowbury, preston and Blackburn. Sue, how did you deal with the desert environmnet, coming from the lush fields of England? Cathy, I suppose we do change, we become visitors in our own home country. That's what I am afraid of when we next visit. Will I have the same fondness for home, or would I want to leave and call the US my home for good?

In the mean time I will enjoy these lovely pics

Hi Dee, I think one does tend to feel like a visitor to your country of origin mainly because you are not "at home, in your own place"!

But I think I need to stress that you make "home" where ever you happen to be, with your own nuclear family, especially if you have children, because that will be the place they have happy memories of! 

I think it is probably more difficult because you no longer have the support system you were used to having around you, such as your family members and friends which leads you to experiencing a feeling of alienation (you are on your own!).

I found the best way to combat this was to become involved in the local community in someway  (charity work or the children's school, visiting in the hospitals, joining a group of some sort, etc.,) this way you create a sense of belonging.

But that doesn't mean you cannot have fond memories of other places you have lived in, be it the place you were born, grew up in, moved to when you got married, job, university, whatever!

And of course, visiting POE,  to get your "fix" for memories of England.

Hello Dee and a warm welcome to POE! I can well appreciate your longing for England.

I am Indian and I have been to England only once for a fortnight in Nov 2007.However I have grown up on a liberal diet of English books and movies since childhood and England has always been my dream country.I am completely obssesed by your beautiful country and that is why discovering POE has been one of the miracles in my life.I always dream of going back for a long visit some day and keep making lists of the places I would like to visit once I am there.

I hope you have a wonderful time on this site and it helps you to get over your homesickness to some extent.