The Big Move

Six years ago today, we said goodbye to some dear friends at Málaga Airport before flying to London to prepare for our biggest move yet.

Saying goodbye to Andalusia was hard, but our five-year "vacation" had to end some time.  On reflection, I'm not sure if, when we had decided to retire to the Costa Del Sol five years previously, that we really thought that we would spend the rest of lives there.  It was certainly good while it lasted.  The weather was amazing compared to the dull, gray days which seem to prevail in Norfolk since my retirement.  The Andalusian culture, when not spoiled by the many ex-pats from northern Europe, was a delight and we made many friends, both Spanish and English.

 Ronda - a must for our many visitors

The wonderful city of Málaga. I never tired of this view from Gibralfaro

Our granddaughters spent their summer vacations with us, as did friends from England. As for us, well who could resist the delights of Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Ronda, all on our doorstep.  But after visits to our son, who was by this time, living with his American wife in Durham, North Carolina, we both realized that the beautiful Old North State would be a better place to make our forever home.

So, for the second time in five years, we sold our home with all it's contents and on that early morning, with all the possessions that mattered to us in two (large) suitcases, flew to London Gatwick, booked into a hotel in Horley to spend the rest of the day preparing for the biggest move of our life.

Decisions, decisions - part 4

Decisions are made virtually every second of our lives. Even when we sleep, decisions are made which effect our lives.

My first life-changing decisions were previously posted separately. This post combines three major ones within five years.

In the summer of 2000 we were to take our three (at that time) wonderful granddaughters on individual vacations of their choice. We always tried to have quality one-on-one time with them individually. So a great time was had with with 9 year-old Josie in historic Northumbria. A couple of weeks later, an equally great time with 7 year-old Asha in East Sussex exploring "Pooh Bear" country. On return, and before we had a chance to take dear Caitlin, then 5, anywhere, I suffered a mild, but nevertheless frightening, heart attack. Don't jump to any conclusions here - it was nothing to do with our girls - if anything, they helped me relax from the stresses of my work.

On recovering, thankfully fairly quickly, I was fortunate to be given the chance to take early retirement. An easy decision? I now think it was, but I'm not so sure I felt so then. After all, nine years early? With the support and encouragement, as always of Gail and our son and daughter, decision number 1 was made.

Before this, on various vacations, we had fallen in love with the southern Iberian Peninsular, and had talked about retiring there, either the Algarve or to neighboring Spain's Costa's. We now had an opportunity to do so, but would we take the plunge? It may have been brave, it may have been foolhardy, but finding on retirement that during my previously working hours the sun really didn't come out all that much, and that perhaps our finances could go stretch a little further in Andalusia, I started the research. There, decision number 2 made. Following our visit to North Carolina for our son's wedding, we did for a short time consider the possibility of moving to the US. However we stuck to our original plan, put our home on the market, sold most of our belongings and took a flight to Spain to check out the property in and around Málaga. UK property sold, Spanish property purchased, legal work completed and decision 2 carried through.

A good decision? Yes, although after four years and having visited North Carolina for an extended stay (Leslie, our daughter-in-law deserves sainthood for putting up with us), we realized we could never have made Spain our permanent home, even though we managed to have the quality time with each of our girls in turn, . . . so, let's start preparing for the big one - Decision Number Three!

This really was a big one. We really liked NC and after spending time here in the summer and winter months, checking out property (and the locals, and liking both), I still wasn't convinced. It took Gail quite a bit of persuasive argument to win me over. There was a great deal of agonizing, but eventually Gail's logic was spot on.

I have not regretted any of these decisions. Yes, we miss our family in England terribly, how could we not? But which one of our granddaughters spent nearly a month with us this past summer? If you are a regular reader you know the answer . . . . Caitlin had her quality time with Nan and Granddad after all.