The Americans Have Landed

Fifty weeks. It has been fifty weeks since we had returned home, returned to jobs, spent time with family and friends, and settled back into life in the states. We had a small window of transition, but if you had watched Facebook and all of the incessant posting I had done, then you knew it took no time at all. We quickly had gained back the weight we had lost (hello chips and salsa, food with salt, and all the bad ingredients!), and I must have done two loads of laundry daily because I was so excited to have a dryer again after almost 4 months of not. You could have literally brought your laundry to me and I would gladly have done it for you! 

There was a lingering though, and especially for me in those first months. I had struggled a bit harder than David only because he was so busy with ODU, but I would be sitting at work (my goodness I hated sitting at a desk hour after hour) and I would get teary eyed thinking about the walks through Hermitage, the train rides watching the endless green hills with scattered sheep and cows, headed to my favorite villages. I missed popping down to our favorite M&S to get my chocky milk, or to the Superdrug for my makeup and the sweet girl at checkout who would smile at me because she knew me by then, and she would laugh and say "now why Perth again?". I just MISSED it; we missed it. 

We genuinely tried not to talk about Scotland non stop when we got home. We were afraid to drive everyone nuts and I know after about 5 minutes most people were done. Deep down though, we mentally begged people to ask us! It was ok though, everyone knew we would be heading back, and so a few months ago, the tickets were purchased. David was going to be done with classes, and I made the hard decision to leave my job. My heart tugged at a lifestyle that I wanted, and it included being with my family more and visiting places that gave me peace. The Americans were invading Scotland again!

Having seen family and friends before we headed out, I said goodbye to our animals; huge crocodile tears and what I thought for sure was my heart breaking in two when I held my little Luna (David rolling his eyes during this dramatic goodbye, ha!) We were off! 

It was when we were in the airport in Iceland, waiting to board the last flight to Glasgow, when we heard it, that familiar sound of someone speaking English but still doubting it is English because you can't quite make out all the words. The Scottish accent, and in fact it was "Oi, he was a total c**t", and we looked at each other and literally started laughing. A small group of Scots all talking together, all heading to Glasgow. (Disclaimer: you can not judge or get mad at me for the words I write here. I write what I see, hear and feel, and trust me, you will hear that word here!)

Everyone knows the scene. The scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy's house has just landed with a thud, and she gets up to walk through the house and she gets to the front door, and suddenly all the black and white disappears and the outside is all colorful and beautiful. Well, luggage in tow we walk through the airport doors in Glasgow and there was this glow so powerful it made my eyes water. It was the sun, big and bold and WARM. I say this with 100% truth; we had never been in Glasgow with the sun completely out. We have always been Dorothy living in a black and white Kansas while here. Our taxi driver matter of factly told us that this was the tail end of what has been the most sun the Scots had seen in a long time. "Ehm, we have had almost six weeks of sun, and all of May so far (laugh laugh) but it ends soon. Summer is done now". He continues to laugh and David and I sigh as though we knew all along that the minute we touched ground in Scotland we would have two days of sun left and that would be it. Cheeky, cheeky Scotland. He was right, summer appears to be over as I sit and write this. 

We were tired, but we were back on the train and I was so happy! I smiled as I stepped onto the platform and onto the train. The rolling green hills were back. My sheep and cows were still here, and yes they are MY sheep and cows. It was all familiar and it felt good. We pulled up to perhaps a little bit less scenic and more dodgy in color area known as Perth train station. Oh Perth, you are both beautiful and rusty, but you are our second home and we were home. The streets from the train station to our flat were familiar. Our suitcases bumping along paths of cobblestone and pavement. Occasionally we would say "Hey! Remember when we ate there last year?" or "Oh thank God Primark hasn't closed down". Lord knows I missed Primark. 

Our flat is on High St. and we had finally made it to High St. and we were happy to see people out and about, but I was tired, so we decided David would take the heavy luggage up the 52 winding steps crafted from the devil himself. I probably too loudly said "I am going to sit down on the bench and rest for a second. I hope no one talks to me." David was already headed up the stairs when literally I sat and looked up and a man appeared out of nowhere. In my head I knew what was coming but my face surely grimaced. He smiled and said "I see you have suitcases, now where are you from?". So began me getting to know David. Yes, his name was David. It seems I can't escape Davids. 😂 It was perfect though; we had been here for what felt like 5 minutes and already someone came to talk to us. By the time my David had came back down, I knew Scottish David had a son who got married last weekend (the pictures he showed me were beautiful btw), that he was a retired policeman, that he and his wife were going through a rough patch but he had hoped to work it out, and that he had traveled a great deal through the States. I am laughing writing this, because these are the people of Scotland. Sure, they can be reserved at times, but mostly they never meet a stranger and they absolutely love telling a story. My David got Scottish David's phone number because that is what he does, and maybe we will go have a dram with him sometime, but mostly I just hope he works it out with his wife. I bet she maybe just needed some quiet time. 😉 

We have had a wonderful woman named Georgianna staying in our flat while we have been gone. She is not our tenant, she is our friend and part of our family. After climbing the stairs and being thrown back into a rage of how horrible they are, we walked into our flat again after a year. Georgianna not only had taken amazing care of it, but it literally looked better than when we left it. There was a huge cake from M&S on the coffee table, fresh flowers in the kitchen, and not a speck of dust. Everyone should have a Georgianna as a tenant! 

We did not waste much time in settling in and decided to stay up and just get acclimated to the time change immediately. We took a walk around town a bit and got dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Brothers. We were not ready to give up full flavor quite yet, sorry Scotland food. On the way home we ran into Ian. You remember Ian from "David and Cortney are in Scotland" season one? 😏 He is our neighbor downstairs who has the pittie named Enzo. Uncharacteristically I yelled "Hi Ian!" but characteristically I followed up immediately with "Where is Enzo?". Poor Ian, he knows who I truly care about. Enzo came out to see us, and I firmly believe he remembers us because he was so excited. He knows the Americans love him. Enzo that is. 

When you are incredibly fortunate to have the flat like we are, and to be able to come here, you want to treat it as your home, not a vacation. Some people have second homes at the beach or in the mountians. Some people go to their favorite vacation spot year after year. We knew we did not want to always feel like we were on vacation, and frankly we couldn't afford to treat it like that either. So, we went grocery shopping, we unpacked and we hit our favorite spots the first couple days. We were eager to just "live". We had become friends with a lot of local people, some who own businesses here. Olive Tree Pizza was top of the list and we were dying to have our favorite pizza there and see our friend, Susantha. He and his wife own the little pizza shop and we were so happy to see it thriving while we were gone. I ask him everytime I see him to come to the states and open a little shop in Toano. Perhaps one day he will. We ventured over to see our favorite bartender, Xander, at the pub behind our flat, the Old Ship Inn. Xander gave us a huge hug, and as always, knew just exactly what drink to make for us. The next stop was on Saturday to go watch the Perthshire Brass, and support friends George and Clair, whom play in the band. George hadn't changed at all. Full of funny stories in between songs, and adorable Clair with the sweetest little voice in Scotland. Saturday night we headed out to see the Phillipine Philharmonic Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall and it was amazing. We took our seats and immediately David starts talking to the couple next to us. Of all the people to sit next to, we are next to a Scottish woman who lived in Chesapeake for over 16 years and went to Indian River High School, near where David taught at Hickory. It is a small world that we live in sometimes! 

Some faces we were very excited to see were the ones from our church, Tayside Christian. The little ladies who greeted us before we stepped through the doors of the church, remember them from season one? Well, they too have become our dear friends. Grace, the church secretary was there for me when I was going through my breast cancer scare. She put me on the prayer list but also emailed me weekly. We became like old fashioned pen pals and I always looked forward to hearing from her. Sheena, the very first lady who made sure she introduced us to everyone in the church. When I saw her walking up on Sunday morning, I ran to hug her. It was like I was getting to hug my grandma all over again, and it felt so good. Caroline and her husband Jim (their smiling faces could light up any room) Olivia (fellow American who I love to talk to when I would miss food, the sun, and anything states!) and her husband Will, the pastor.  How we missed listening to the sermon in the most perfect British accent. Pastor Ross, who always loves to make fun of himself and always delivers a powerful message, the praise band, the other fellow Americans, Chris and Megan, who have chosen Perth as their home and suggested smuggling spices in our suitcase from the states 😂, and of course one of our closest and dearest friends, Cornelia and Gabi. We enjoyed the best "light lunch" after church with Cornelia and her girls. It was a plethora of meat, salad, soup, wine, and cake from the Polish bakery. Our Romanian friends can entertain like no one else! Their food is truly my favorite in Scotland, but mostly it was just being back with Cornelia and picking up where we left off. We are truly blessed to have them in our lives. 

So, for the next two months or so, we will be "living" and having advenures all over again here in the UK. I am sure I will have stories to tell. I have had no sightings of the "mean girls" yet, but I know they are out there ... somewhere.