One Year In

We are a little over a year into our international move to London. Our feet hit British ground on May 28, 2025 to be exact. In cliche fashion, it has flown by but also feels like we've been here a lot longer. I don't have all my thoughts in order about this yet, so I'll keep this short and sweet today with a few pros and cons so far.

Pros:

• We don't have a car. We walk or use public transportation everywhere. I've only used an Uber twice. Nick commutes to work via walking/Lime bike then the tube. We walk to school (4 minute walk from our house to primary, 10 minute walk to preschool). The bus stop is really close to our street and takes us straight to the high street of Muswell Hill or we walk there (10 minute walk). Of course there are occasional instances where it would absolutely be faster or easier if we could just hop in the car, but it's generally been okay. Plus on a personal note, I was having such a hard time driving in Colorado due to anxiety and health reasons that I wasn't really doing it anyway which felt like I had lost a huge piece of my independence, especially in the suburbs. But here, I can do the daily things I need to do. (Still working through some anxiety with longer trips solo or with the kids).
• The neighborhood. We live in an area of London that is primarily terraced homes meaning you share a wall with at least one, but usually two neighbors. The street we are on has a ton of kids, as does the area in general. And since most of the kids go to the local primary school, everyone is walking there every morning. It makes it feel like a true community knowing there are so many families nearby that are raising kids in parallel with you. My kids pop into people's houses for playdates multiple times a week, or we take home an extra kid or two after school. Most of the neighborhood kids know where my snack cupboard is. We've been incredibly lucky to have become really close friends with a family on our street. They watched our dog when we were away. They are happy to take our kids if we get in a bind and vice versa. We go on outings in London together, and the best part is I don't feel the need to thoroughly clean my house for them anymore. Our street did a street party last weekend where we closed off the whole street to cars and the kids went wild riding bikes, having water gun fights, and bouncing from house to house.
• The simplicity. In my bubble here in North London, things feel so much simpler than the US. We aren't running around all the time, always in the car going somewhere. Grocery stores are smaller and less overwhelming. I don't have to walk 10 minutes across a parking lot to go into a store. (You CAN do that if you choose - they do still have large shopping centers and big Tescos, but we personally don't usually go to those places.)
• Park life. It is perfectly acceptable to spend a whole Saturday on a picnic blanket in the park while your kids run around with friends and eat ice cream. There's no pressure to be doing anything else and no rush to get to the next thing. Plus, my dog also gets to run around off his leash living his best life.

Cons:

• The weather. When we first moved I actually didn't think I would ever complain about the weather. There are some times of the year that are magical like late spring when all the flowers are in full force (I would give anything for a garden full of wisteria) or early fall with temps in the 60s and pretty leaves, but other than that it's not great. It rained for nearly two months straight after the first of the year. I'm all for playing outside in any weather, but there are only so many days in a row of "playing in the rain" one can take.
• The honeymoon phase. I was telling my friends the other day that I think the adrenaline from moving wore off for me about three months ago. Now, I think I'm dealing with the reality of grief of such a big life change and honestly it doesn't feel great. Plus stack on perimenopause, a dysregulated nervous system, and a 90 degree heat wave without A/C and you get...well, me right now. The cultural differences are very real sometimes too. I still will occasionally say something "American" and people will look at me with a blank stare. Like don't say "pants" - here it means underwear. You say "trousers" if you are referring to pants. Also PB&Js aren't a regular thing, and we have had to explain s'mores to people on more than one occasion.
• The house. I wouldn't recommend buying a house less than a year after you move to a country and undergoing a complete renovation unless you have a personality that is 180 degrees different from mine.
• The school year. I thought I liked that the kids go to school from September to July with only a 6 week summer holiday, 3 one week breaks, and 2 two week breaks, but I don't think I do. They are still in school for one more week here, and then it feels like the summer will fly by. I only get so many summers with them here at home and now they are even shorter. Plus it has been atrociously hot and their school (and our home) is not air conditioned - I volunteered in G's classroom last week and was dripping with sweat when I was done. I feel like an awful parent sending them into such heat for a whole day.

These are the things on my mind today, but I'll keep writing posts here and there about this. It's a very fluid, constantly evolving transition. Some weeks we feel like we made the best decision for our family, and some weeks especially lately it's really easy to question everything. We had friends visit from Colorado a few weeks ago which was absolutely wonderful, but it sent my brain on a spiral quite frankly. I've spent weeks now really grieving and missing my old neighborhood, house, summers, and silly little things that we gave away. I think I'm human to feel this way. Anybody on the internet who makes a huge change without a roller coaster of emotions is probably not giving the whole story.