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. . . . . . . will not be winging its way back across the pond for the time being.
Thatcher Rock and Tor Bay, Torquay, England ~ my home.
For the third time since COVID-19 arrived and shut down the world to international travelers, we are cancelling our long overdue trip home to the UK. We were due to leave in a few weeks and planned to stay for 3 weeks. Now, after much thought and discussion, listing the pros and cons of travel overseas, and checking with my family and friends in England, we have decided not to risk a trip which still has so many cons, especially with new variants rearing their ugly heads, and no way to get a third vaccination before leaving the USA.
I so miss England.
I miss not seeing my remaining family and friends across the pond.
We are all aging and time is precious. It's now well over two years since
I last visited due to COVID . . . . . the longest period of time I've ever
spent away from my real home since emigrating almost 59 years ago!
I am homesick - really homesick!
Thankfully my home never actually fades from my memory as I've been
fortunate to go back such a lot. . . . . . and now we will plan to go next
year, perhaps in late spring.
Vintage Torquay guide book - a much cherished item from home.
I often spend time looking through this book and remembering how
things were when I lived there in the 'good old days.'
There really is "no place like home" no matter how long one has been
gone and made a new life elsewhere.
Do I have regrets about leaving? Yes, sometimes I do, but I mostly
feel I made the right move and am thankful for the good life I've
experienced in America all these years.
To live a full life includes having regrets. They are an unpleasant,
though unavoidable, part of the human condition.
You may know people who staunchly declare that they have no
regrets whatsoever. That is unhealthy because with regret we get to
reassess our lives. Whether or not we chose our actions,
we get to think about who we are, how we relate to the world
and where we may have failed.
Regrets are necessary to being a complete human being.
Meanwhile, as the saying goes, once again "I'll pick myself up, brush myself
off, and start all over again" - and hope to go back home as soon as possible.
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