Please forgive the delay

To begin with, I feel like I need to apologize.

Although when I started this blog I didn’t set any type of time frame, I sort of thought I’d do something on a weekly basis. So I really don’t have anyone to apologize to, right?

Besides, it’s not my fault. I have a new housemate who has demanded my attention.

(Her name is Sabrina. Supposedly after the model/actress on the right. I think she’s named after Audrey Hepburn in the movie.)

At any rate, the delay turned out to be a good thing. It was just brought to my attention by that modern receptacle of memories and life events (yes, Facebook) that I am celebrating an anniversary. It was 6 years ago today that I made my very first trip to the UK. Travelling with my sister, sister-in-law and brother, we arranged to spend 9 days hitting some important places for each of us. My sister wanted to see the Harry Potter studios; I wanted to see the places in Oxford I have been seeing on my favourite British mysteries for years. We all enjoyed ourselves. It has been interesting to think back about that first dream trip and see it as the starting point of the journey that would lead to me here and now.

Of course it wasn’t start of my love for all things UK. I grew up on the reality that British television/movies/books were always better for me than any others. I was the only kid I knew who was obsessed with Doctor Who. Every Saturday morning I’d come downstairs to get a cup of dry cereal (yeah, I still don’t like milk) and settle on the couch to watch cartoons. By the time my Doctor (Tom Baker of course) showed up, I had sugary bear cereal stuck all over my robe. My word, I was cute.

But I digress. Doctor Who fan before it was popular. Enjoying Hammer horror with my sister, not knowing that there were other actors who had allegedly played Dracula and Frankenstein before Lee and Cushing. Sitcoms and mysteries, I slowly grew an absolute love of the things I learned about England. Someday, I convinced myself, I would get to go to this magical place where Daleks roam the streets and murders happen in small villages regularly. Where people would understand my quotes from The Young Ones and Monty Python.

When my brother became a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists, he suggested I become an associate. I have also always been fascinated in that space where science and faith overlap, and to spend time with the brilliant minds who occupied these two disciplines was very intriguing. And I would get to go to England. Win/win.

Purchased our tickets, laid out our plans, packed our bags and headed off. We got off in Heathrow and my brother and sister-in-law went to find the luggage. My sister and I stood there for a moment, and I said what seems even today to be the strangest feeling I’ve ever known. “I feel like I’ve come home for the first time.” You would think I would have had some great foresight into where I would end up, but that wasn’t the case. I did have worries about travelling to this new land, which could be summed up in these simple ideas:

1. Don’t be rude. Americans are always seen as rude, and it’ll be a dead giveaway if you’re arrogant and rude. Be polite, and positive, and patient, (especially when queueing.)
2. Don’t be loud. Americans are always heard as loud, and no one wants to hear you announce your opinions over the conversations around you. Like someone on a cell phone breaking up with their partner, no one wants to know that “you could have paid me more attention” or “you weren’t the worst I’ve slept with” or “you couldn’t just clean the toilet once in a while?!” (By the way, these are real snippets I’ve overheard while working in retail. Oy.)
3. Don’t keep asking people to repeat themselves. Americans think it’s the fault of the other person if they can’t keep up with the accent. If someone doesn’t understand you and asks politely for you to say it again, do NOT, under any circumstances, say the exact same thing slower and louder.

How delighted was I to discover that the people of my dream were wonderfully friendly and generous. I enjoyed Oxford. And all things Harry Potter. And the hotel’s pool, and afternoon tea…Not knowing, however, that the most important element of that trip would be the gathering in Leeds for the Society. Yes, I did have the honour to spend time with an incredibly brilliant bunch of scientists and theologians. I also met the bishop who would later ask me to think about coming to work here. However, that was quite a few years – and a whole pandemic – away from that first trip. For now, I just remember the feeling of getting back on that plane to return to the US. The thought I couldn’t shake from my heart – I’ll be back.

Even though it was 3 years later. But that’s a story for another day. I have to go pay attention to my housemate now.