I miss England. It's funny, much of the time I spent living there I was homesick for America, or more accurately, for the ease of my life in America. I was reading a book of small essays about England and its traditions today, and as I read it I thought to myself how amazing it would be to actually witness this first-hand, and how England is a land of stories, a land of legend.
And then I remembered - Oh, wait. I did live in England. And I spent much of the time among its bureaucracy, its "nation of shopkeepers" (either Tolkien or C.S. Lewis), and most of all, its nation of the Pound, when I had the spending power of dollars. But occasionally I did get a glimpse of why the idea of England enchants me so much.
Now that I'm across an ocean from it, the day-to-day living has faded, and I only remember the misty mornings, the manor grounds out my window, the medieval architecture of Oxford and the quaint British culturalisms like saying "Bless" at everything.
I'm glad that in my memories the good remains and hard aspects fade. When I first came home from my study abroad in Egypt with subsequent trip to Jordan and Syria, my main topic of sight-seeing was the toilets. Now I actually recall aspects of cultural significance.
My friend RoseE recently talked about how the prospect and occurance of loss make love mean more. I think this especially holds true once something is lost.
Several days later:
Today we made "Bangers and Mash," with Yorkshire Pudding for a taste of the old country. Bangers and Mash are sausages and mashed potatoes, with a gravy. We make an onion gravy, a common one in England (according to the Internet, source of all casual knowledge). Before we went to England a lot of people warned us about British Food - that it was boring, and plain. In reality, we really liked it. It's the kind of food that sticks to your ribs and fills up the corners; it's not fancy, but we appreciated it when it was cold or rainy outside - which describes the vast majority of our time spent in England.
Although I have been missing England, especially after reading this post, now that we have housing in Ohio I've been spending my yearning moments and thoughts getting excited for the future and not feeling poignent about the past. Today I figured out while I fell asleep how to finally once and for all arrange my living room furniture - particularly the cabinet holding our TV that only shows DVDs. You know, the cabinet I have bought yet, to hold the free TV I haven't found yet, with a DVD player I also haven't bought yet.
I'm very good at planning - especially the future that exists only in my mind. It's easier that way, with no actual logistics to worry about.
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Easy Green Beans Almondine
2 days ago
It's called loitering in your dream house. I think you learned to do that from your mother.
ReplyDeleteI miss england too.. and i have never even lived there!! but it sounds oh so lovely and romantic. in fact i almost worry if i did go there one day i would be disapointed it wasnt as i had imagined.
ReplyDeletei like to think about future things too.. although i tend to dream years down the road. i dont like to think about the logistics of moving and all the stressful part of if cory gets this new job. I do however think hours on hours about what to do in three years from now when his salary would be 66,000. I have looked and looked at homes in midland we could afford with the salary. I have looked at new home builders in the area and their respective floorplans... i have read about the neighborhoods and schools. I have even gone as far as to pick out the perfect fancy swing set ( one of those wooden ones that is really nice and elaborate and every kid wished they had) this will go in my large fenced and landscaped back yard of course.
anyways you get the picture
now figuring out how to move, who to use for the pod service, what appartment to live in, etc... i have not had much motivation researching or thinking enough about these.
oh and my one advice, get the armoir for the tv if you can so you can shut the doors when you are not using it and when people come over. I find it makes the space much nicer and less like a TV room all the time. My one criteria for cory when he got a new tv was it fit into the armoir.