Together

I had a wonderful time revisiting Tulsa, but it was a little saddening to be taking Sharon away from her friends. She truly is a wonderfully brave person in being so willing to give everything up for me, and move to a strange home, and strange country (particularly at our time of life), and start again. This is very greatly appreciated, and I feel incredibly proud and privileged that she was willing to do this ……………… I also feel extremely lucky, and it feels sooooooo good now that she is here with me.

Our last week in Tulsa was a blur of motel living, goodbyes, tears, shopping frenzy, and hundreds of photos !!! Our journey to the UK was smooth but lengthy, and Sharon was airsick the whole way until we arrived at Gatwick airport – about 24 hours after we had arisen. She felt better after a visit to the bathroom in Gatwick departure lounge (in her words “I left the last 48 hours in the ladies bathroom !!!!”) ……… and actually enjoyed the flight to Plymouth. She had always said that, on arrival, she would “kiss the ground I walked on”, and sure enough, she did !!!

Entering the arrivals lounge at Plymouth, would you believe that we met a cabin stewardess from Charleston, SC; who had lived in Plymouth for 13 years – she spoke with a local dialect, and a southern drawl !!!!!

The drive home from the airport was in daylight, which gave Sharon her first chance to see the Devon countryside, and a short part of the journey was across Dartmoor. After starting out at 5.30am on Sunday, we finally got indoors about 4pm on Monday !!!!

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent unpacking suitcases, and walking around Okehampton, trying to get her (slightly) familiar with it before having to return to work.

I returned to work on Thursday, so we are now beginning to develop routines, etc. Sharon has already made a few friends, and has ventured out on her own (complete with hand drawn map !!!) and is slowly getting used to being in a different environment, different climate, different language (at times), different money, me driving on the correct side of the road, etc.

It’s now a week since we left, and we are finally starting to recover. Reality is sinking in ………… we are both comfortable with 'reality', and we are both ecstatically happy.