Back and Forth Across the Pond

I turned in my notice at work today and posted the blogs I began writing a month ago. This is really happening! On top of that, after a couple of weeks of being in relocation limbo, the ball is rolling right along. We have people helping us find a place to live, someone to help with our taxes, another handling the relocation financing, and yet another person working on my immigration documents. Here I was all panicked that we hadn't heard anything for so long and I had to get my visa application in and now someone else is doing all of it. Pretty sweet. So it's really happening . . . and yet it still doesn't quite seem real.

My friend from high school, Carol, made an interesting New Year's resolution for 2016. She takes one day each week for a Florida adventure. With my Jacksonville days numbered, I was thinking I should take a page from Carol's book and do a little adventuring of my own before my life here is in the past. A part of that plan was to visit a couple of interesting hiking trails I found that are further afield. One is in the Ocala National Forest and the other is along the Suwanee River. But I recently discovered a list of Jacksonville-area walks/hikes that has me planning weekday adventures once I leave my job. I'm excited about this. I hope I'm not disappointed.

It's Monday, March 7. We spent a few hours at Mom's yesterday and the drive back hammered home one thing I most definitely will NOT miss when we move to Scotland: Traffic. The drive down wasn't bad. We left the house at 6:40 a.m. Traffic was light. However, the trip home was a very different story. We left around 2 p.m. and by then, all the idiots were up and clogging the left lanes. Even though there are signs everywhere saying "Slower Traffic Keep Right," most drivers seem to think that doesn't apply to them. So the 100+ miles home was filled with lane jumping, slow downs, speed ups, and general frustration. On today's Florida highways, if you have any hope of making any kind of progress, you have to be prepared to pass on the right. All too often, the middle and left lanes are crammed full of slow-moving people and the right lane is completely empty. In the UK, the sides are reversed (the slow lane is the left lane - you know - the whole drive on the ...

I suppose some people may wonder why I'm willing to uproot my life and move several thousand miles and an ocean away from my family and friends. Believe me, my family and my best friend were none too pleased when I first gave them the news. I rode out their reactions and now we have everyone's support. But I know having us leave is difficult. Leaving is difficult. But here are the reasons why Steve and I decided that moving to Scotland was the right thing: 1. Steve was a young lad of 27 when he moved here on June 3, 1999, to marry me and make a life in the States. We had made a list of the pros and cons of living in the UK and living in the USA early in our engagement, and the USA won. We've made a good life here. But Steve left behind his family and friends, while I remained within easy striking distance of mine. It's Steve's turn to be closer to his family. Granted, we're still going to be about six hours away, but the travel is a lot easier and cheaper.  ...

I am writing this blog post on Tuesday, February 23, 2016. I'm offering the date because the writing and the actual publishing will be about six weeks apart. The reason? I have big news, but I can't share it to the general public just yet because I haven't notified my job. Once I do that, then I'll publish. What's the news? We're moving! To Scotland! How incredible is that?! I am feeling/thinking so much about this that I wanted to blog about it. I said as much to Steve and he suggested I blog, but postpone publishing. That way I can share the experience but without letting too many cats out of the bag too early. So here I am. This whole Scotland thing actually dates back to April 2015. For some inexplicable reason, I had the urge to browse through the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) job openings. Steve works for J&J. I have no idea why I did it. I just did. While there, I noticed that a company in Scotland was hiring a controls engineer. Steve is a cont...