Pieces of Me
On Living Here, Now
I lived in London for seven years. I was transferred there for a one-year assignment by my former employer. But after a year, I decided to stay another year. And then another. And then I finally decided “I live here now” and I stopped putting a time frame on it.
Even though my partner and I had talked about eventually living in the U.S., we were planning on moving to New York. I imagined myself taking quick jaunts to London at least every few months, and not really letting go of my London life. But he got a job in San Francisco, where we live now. Being eight hours behind London, even scheduling time-zone compatible phone calls is a challenge.
People ask if I miss London. Yes, I miss it. For a long time after moving, I felt like Jack from LOST screaming in my mind “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!”
The hardest thing about moving is that you leave a small part of you in your former city. Then you adopt your new city, and grow a part of yourself there. There is no going back; at least, not in the same way.
You can never reassemble all of those parts of yourself. You just have to live here now.
My friend Jean recently asked:
“What do you miss from London? I can bring you whatever you desire from the U.K.”
It got me thinking about the things I really miss, so I’m answering her here:
I miss being close to London’s heartbeat; that intense energy that comes with being right at the center of everything.
I miss being in surroundings infused with history; walking down a new street and stumbling across ghosts.
I miss being able to travel to Prague, Paris, or Budapest for a weekend, and the richness of experience of having friends and working with people who come from and have traveled all over the world.
I miss The Globe; leaving the theatre with my thoughts pulsating in iambic pentameter.
And I miss having a nice glass of Pimms on a rare perfect London summer afternoon.
Jean, those first four things may be hard to bring back from London. So let’s just plan on having a Pimms.
