Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

I can remember the exact moment it hit me.   I was sitting on the rubbery play surface at our local outdoor playground on an unusually warm and sunny British afternoon.   My young children were playing some sort of imaginative game that required them to gather pebbles, dandelions, and blades of grass which they spun furiously in the gravity bowl while they chattered back and forth in high pitched voices with elfin British accents.   The sky was blue and a jolly red post box stood in my line of sight as I gazed across Llantrisant Road.   On the opposite side of the street, there were vibrant, verdant hills dotted with sheep and sluggish, grazing cattle. Right then the notion hit me like a stepped upon pitch fork hits a stooge between the eyes.   We would eventually move back to the USA, and, when we did, I would feel homesickness for Great Britain in the same way that I yearned for my American home while living abroad.   I would forever be torn betwe...

Since we are all moving back to the US this summer, I find myself wondering if I can still be Mama Carson Across the Pond ?  I suppose I will still be across the pond from all of my British friends, right?  Perhaps my title will need a bit of a tweak.  I am open to suggestions.  I am also open to the immense feelings of "reverse culture shock" that I expect to be experiencing this summer. Soon you will be able to read about all of the things I miss about the UK.  You can look forward to reading about my yearning for the almost daily walks that my friends and I take along the Taff Trail.  These walks out in the fresh air really feed my spirit, and there is practically nothing that we haven't discussed whilst walking.  (I mean it.  Nothing. Trust me on this.)  I am finding it difficult to imagine finding a way to fill the void that will be left when I no longer have my morning walks with Sonia, Jo, Rose, and the others who join us on oc...