Forty years ago we boarded a plane and said Goodbye to England.
Goodbye to our home and friends and church and all the things that had been "ours" for those six years.
Goodbye to the land of Winnie the Pooh, King Arthur and Elisabeth Bennett.
Goodbye to the place where you might run into royalty at any given moment.
Farewell to castles and cathedrals and museums of Viking artifacts, the paths that took us over Roman bridges and the ruins of Roman walls.
We lived there in the early 80's and were there during the Falkland Wars, and the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana, as well as the birth of Prince William. Elizabeth was Queen and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
It was during the Cold War, so there was always the possibility that you might go on base during a drill. If you did, then you could expect to see the airmen dressed in their fighting clothes with gas masks. If it was in the winter months, then you would feel the chill from the weather as well as the atmosphere of the reality of the possibility of war.
That was something that always hung over us. We were not there for a vacation
But being there was a dream we had, and you don't turn your back on a dream.
And we made the most of the six years we were there.
We ate fish and chips that we bought at a Chinese Take-Out run by people from Pakistan. It was near enough to walk to.
We also walked to the market in Huntingdon where we got fresh veggies and flowers, and at the grocery store where we learned to bag our own groceries in reusable bags. We got tea, and Alpen cereal and Orange Squash. Cadbury chocolates and other sweets. In town we visited the bakery and got sausage rolls and Cornish pasties.
They had a Woolworth's that sold things like kitchen utensils, wooden spoons, and McClaren baby strollers. We got one soon after being in England because the one we had only did well on sidewalks and mall floors. Our first walk to town rattled the baby to sleep, and threatened to fall apart on the way home!
We drove the car to places all over, more than I can remember just from memory.
We took the bus to Cambridge, and the train to London.
And we camped in Scotland.
Bud learned to take pictures and develop them, I learned to make lace with little sticks called bobbins.
Erin started school in a small English school of 45 students and three classes. Where lunch was served by the older class and I got to volunteer with a group of students playing the recorder!
It amazes me that these years stand out so strongly in my memory after so long, but it was that kind of adventure.
I do miss it, but I have learned that you never know when an opportunity will come that can have a great impact on your life, and you just might regret not taking it.
These days we are enjoying our retirement days. Still making memories every chance we can!
