Hanekoms Crazy Lives

I realized earlier today that not only have I not blogged in a long time, but we have such a huge life change happening again that I thought I had better write an explanation.

Recently Nic was offered a fantastic new job here in Colorado. On the surface it all seemed simple, move from one executive roll in Denver to another executive roll in Denver. However, after a bit of research from his now company, all was not so easy. As his current company are a UK based business and the new company are a US based business the Visa is basically non transferable. At first we thought "no big deal, Nic heads back to the UK to sort it". But alas, of course that isn't the way these things work. To reapply for the new Visa, we all have to be back in the UK for a period of 12 months, after that, we can apply for the new Visa and THEN only are we allowed back to the States. Of course, all this is ridiculous - apparently Nics many US tax dollars aren't acceptable and they would much prefer we pay them to HMRC for a year or so instead!

The decision to return to the UK isn't one that we made lightly, the stress and expense of the move, plus the uprooting of a whole family (dogs included) is a pretty big deal. But, the benefits this has, in the long term for our whole family is huge. Not only is it a bigger and fancier job for Nic, but a more secure future in the US as far as Visas and Greencards go. After a fraught couple of days we decided we would risk it and make the move back.

The next choice we made was to not stay in our UK house. We instead are renting a fully furnished property further into the countryside in Headley, Thatcham. There were a few reasons for this. Firstly the stress and hassle of hiring and buying furniture, crockery and so forth was quite terrifying. Plus, we have great tenants already in the house and on top of this we are marketing our UK house for sale (all those viewings... no thank you)! Finally we wanted space for our UK and US friends to come and stay and something a little more rural than before.

I of course am very excited to see my family and amazing friends again in the UK. I can't wait to go for Sunday lunch in the local pubs, spend weekends wandering around National Trust manor houses and drinking wine with our best buddies. But I am finding it hard to leave (albeit temporarily) a life I really love here. The weather, the house, the hikes and our hot tub! Not to mention my wonderful lease horse Ritz. Also I have made some of the most amazing friends here and it hurts my heart to say Goodbye.

So, as ever we seem to be living our crazy life on fast forward. By the end of September (just in time for the British winter) we should be in our new UK house and starting to plan out the year. So Brits, apologies if any of my Americanisms offend you, they are here to stay! However, get ready for dinners, wine and lots of catching up!

Photo of Ritz by the amazing Somer McCain