Culture shock

So we’re back. And it’s been quite the hard landing. Yes, we decided to come back, for some very good reasons. Yes, we expected an adjustment period.

The baby girls

Sunset in Suffolk

But oh my god, we didn’t expect it to be quite so hard! A month later, and we are still at loose ends, feeling like we don’t fit in. You don’t expect to feel quite so odd being back in a country you lived in for over 20 years, do you?

But odd we do feel, good readers. And lonely for our friends in Spain. And missing our glorious home on the mountain. Every Sunday, it seems, I shed tears, and if you know me well, you know how much I hate to cry.

Suffolk is a beautiful county, for sure. But there are too many people. Too many cars. It’s too expensive. And too muddy. With too many rules.

It’s our fault, I know. We’ve changed, maybe too much. Family and friends have moved on with their lives, and there’s little room for us in there.

But we won’t give up just yet. Stay we will, and we will work towards adjusting and accepting, and one day we will feel like us again.

But for today, we reserve the right to be sad.

Introducing…GUS!

We always, but always, have had had 2 boxers. One dog seems to get quite lonely, and has an over reliance on the People Dogs to provide all their entertainment. Of course, 2 big boxer boys can be quite a handful, but generally, they sleep together, play together, and mostly mind their manners. 

When our dog Milo died recently, we resolved to get a puppy as soon as we felt able. We made the mistaking of waiting too long the last time, and the surviving dog went into a total grief spiral. So never again.

It’s not easy to get a puppy when your beloved dog dies. You feel disloyal, your heart hurts too much, you feel you will never again want to risk that poor, damaged heart. But you do. You do it for yourself, but mostly, you do it for the dog left behind.

So to cut a long story short, we found a lovely group of puppies, hand reared by a lovely couple. They had both the mother and the father, which was nice. It was hard to pick a puppy (why not take 2, says Kenton – ah….no, says I) but pick we did, and, 3 short weeks later, he owns us good and proper!

Another year, another Christmas

Isn’t it scary how fast time passes? I remember my mother saying

the older you get, the faster time goes

which, of course, I thought was absolutely mad!

It turns out (unsurprisingly) that she was right. Don’t you remember those childhood days, laying on the floor and staring up at your family Christmas tree, just aching to have those days until the Big Day pass more quickly? How slowly the days of school went, yet how quickly the summer holidays passed?

And now, time seems to go so quickly. The days, weeks and months whiz by. All of a sudden, I’m a year older, and it’s almost the end of 2015. Last year this time, I was pretty miserable, as I had 2 chemo sessions during the holidays – and wasn’t sure what state I’d be in come the next Christmas.

Way-hey, it’s Christmas!

But here I am, ticking along, doing well. We have our friends’ goodie bags all ready to delivery this evening, and all the gifts are under the tree.

I feel so thankful to be here, to be healthy, and to have my darling husband and funny boxer dogs here to hug and cuddle me. I have a great daughter, a fantastic son-in-law and 2 perfect granddaughters to give me purpose. Hopefully in the future we’ll be spending every Christmas together, which is about as good as it gets.

Merry Christmas!