The journey to England

Since I was little I always dreamed of going to college, pursuing a degree and making it a career. In 2001 I graduated and the first thing I thought to myself was I need a break from school. So with the intention of taking a year off I decided to work and have fun. Well 1 year turned into 5 years, a kid, marriage and a new residence. I remember the day as if it was just yesterday. I had been working retail for 7 years and boy was I wore out. Working 10 hour days with a deployed husband and a 6 month old baby was not what I anticipated when I thought of the "dream life". My daughter barely slept through the night and I was trying to manage it all while moving jobs. I worked in a job where I ate fast food, got in after 10pm and all I hoped for was my sweet daughter to let me sleep 4-5 hours that night.

Cute baby... please sleep

Then it all changed.... I got the job and started my new journey. I tried to work many admin jobs but lets face it unqualified, uneducated and well I didn't really have any ambition to change that. This job gave me what I needed. I was around driven people with a vision for themselves and others. I decided then it was time to go back to school. I started to work on my real estate license, going to school, and making aspirations for myself. My husband was still deployed and I had been at my new job a full month. Then it all changed with a phone call. He called at work and I answered the phone all I remember was the question he asked me "What do you know about England", I about fainted. As my heart rushed to my stomach all I could get out is "We are moving where". As I finished the phone call that seemed to last only seconds all I could think is but I am happy here why NOW!

I soaked it all it and got the courage to tell my boss that sorry for the opportunity but looks like I will be leaving soon. Then came all the paperwork to go to England and then the denial for the base. Orders cancelled. All over a mix up with some paperwork and coding.

My replacement

Adam came back from his deplyment and the time we had was eventful with families visiting and my daughters first birthday. The only issue is we had not really told anyone about our orders again since well the defeat from the last ordeal was still hanging over our heads. So I tell my boss sorry I am not leaving and continued on. 2 months later we get the same orders again all I could think was its fate we must be destined to go here. As I finished up my first semester in college we packed up the house and moved on to our new home. 

Our home

We arrived in England in late May.  Where we were wearing shorts and flip flops in Texas to winter attire it seemed in England. The weather was gloomy, rainy and in the 60's the majority of the time. I did not let that get me down though. I bottled up inside how excited I was to get the assignment as I did not want to be disappointed if it was taking away again. But we were finally there and weather or not I was going to make the most of it. We had to move on base at the time as the house we were looking at fell through. So the tiny house which was maybe 900 square feet of space is where we called home for a year. The car arrived before we even got there so we had the opportunity to travel right away.


Rental Car

First trip was to Great Yarmouth a beach holiday away, little did I know beach in cold England was a different story. As we hung out at the beach fully clothed with winter coats battling the wind we learned about the culture and what the beach really meant to the English. It meant family fun, games and fish and chips. I learned a lot that first month from driving on the wrong side of the road to roundabouts. It was all new but all so much fun.




Warm Beach?