December…

It is almost six months since we arrived here at our London apartment in Canary Wharf. December here is often gray, damp, and chilly. The days are getting shorter… already the sun sets before 4 pm, and doesn’t rise until nearly 8 am! Even on sunny days, the angle of the sun from the horizon is so low that at noon the light looks more like late afternoon does during Atlanta winters. We have traveled so many times to the UK over the years, but we never before noticed how dim the light is, and how short the days. It takes a bit of getting used to!

I have to admit, in this blogpost, that there are many things about this move to London that we are *still* getting used to. No… we don’t have any serious regrets. We still like London, and we still think this was a good change for us. But… it is taking longer to acclimate than we expected.

When we moved to Tokyo in January 2016, it seemed much easier in integrate into our new surroundings. I know that seems like an odd thing to say since *everything* about moving to Japan was new and different. We couldn’t even speak the language… and we stood out very obviously as “foreigners.” Evenso, we always felt comfortable with the culture, and we enjoyed the adventure of immersing ourselves in such a new and different place.

Here in London, the official language is English, and we have no trouble communicating. (I will say… again, though… that despite English being the official language here, when we are out and about, we hear more foreign languages than English. London is such a cultural melting pot… the most “international” city we have ever experienced!) Of course there are many differences between American culture and British culture… but nothing too hard to adapt to.

When we moved to Japan, we knew we would be there only temporarily, and that we would absolutely be returning to the US. We had a house, cars, possessions… and of course family anchoring us to the United States. After 4 1/2 years, though, I think we would have gladly stayed in Tokyo if we could have. But the visa ran out, and we had to go “home.”

When we decided to accept the job here in UK, we felt we were ready to downsize and get rid of a lot of the *things* that were tying us to the US. We thought we would feel freer and lighter without all the stuff of our US lives.

And… we do. Very much so. But… it can also be a very unsettling feeling.

All those *things* that were tethering us to the United States, also gave us a sense of security… a feeling that we still had a *place* there. Now we don’t have a place, and it sometimes makes us feel a little bit lost.

The thing about anchors… yes… they tie you down, and can keep you from moving forward… but, they also provide stability. We sometimes feel like we have been set adrift. A weird feeling.

Again… we are not at all regretting the decision to come here. We still think that selling our home and most of our possessions was the right thing to do. But six months into this, it still feels… funny.

In a couple of weeks, we will be traveling back “home for the holidays”… except that it isn’t our *home* right now. We will be staying as guests with family. From our home being the family gathering place in past years, we find ourselves as guests at someone else’s home. It will be fine… we will enjoy our time with family (we even have a new grandchild to visit) but it will still seem strange.

As we are approaching retirement, we wanted to make our lives more “portable” and be less tied down to things. But all that “lightness” and “freedom” also takes some getting used to.