Our biggest news since I posted in 2017 (!!!) is that we moved to England. It took around 9 months for us to get things sorted so we could be reunited as a family. The decision was extremely difficult. It is quite difficult to write about...
It was 45°C and my little boy was at the door crying, again, desperate to go out for a walk, but we couldn't. Often, when it was cool enough to go out for a walk, there were times when curious kids would follow us, point at him, laugh, calling him "foreigner baby". Before becoming a mother, I didn't mind being a loner and considered the outsider (even if it was frustrating at times).
I was able to observe, learn and write.
I became a mother and becoming a mother in itself can be isolating and now I didn't want to be an outsider anymore. I didn't want my child to be the pointed at. I didn't want to keep having holidays in England while my husband had to stay in India due to his work.
It was a really hard decision which involved our son (18 months at the time) and I having to return to England without my husband, for me to work long hours for 6 months before we could apply for my husband's visa and a further 3 months before he was able to join us in England. My husband quickly got a great job in the field he loves and was able to adapt to England much better than I did in India. I really appreciated his support throughout this process. It was so hard on all of us, including our family, particularly on him. They were extremely difficult times.
We did aim to visit at least once a year and have our Indian family visit us as much as possible. Obviously, the pandemic put a dampener on that but we have visited India twice since we moved, and my in-laws have been able to stay with us for extended visited, which have been amazing! My mother-in-law is currently with us and has been since October, my father-in-law had to go back for work a little earlier.
I was so lucky to have lived in India. It was a hard decision to move to England, but we must adapt to new situations... and here we are. Years later, we know we made the correct decision.
Other updates:
My Sonshine is now in his 2nd year of primary school, my husband really enjoys his job and I retrained and became a Teacher! Unfortunately Alfonso passed away last year due to some complications with liver. He is very sadly missed, my little boy still gets very upset about it, he was a very special dog. I have also had some health problems but have completely overhauled my lifestyle and doing very well (this includes yoga, tai chi and open water swimming!).
Those are the main things! Thank you for reading!
Happy New Year!! Please let me know what you've been up to since 2017!
