A Bit of London Went With Us

Sometimes things just seem so fitting. For example, we pulled up to our hotel in Seattle and to our delight discovered it was named the Red Lion. 

"Red Lion" is supposedly the most popular name for pubs in the United Kingdom.

As luck would have it, Red Lion was the pub right up the street from Lexi's school campus in England. The pub the teachers would frequent but students were prohibited from entering due to some previous bad experiences (?!)

Here is a picture of the Red Lion we drove past countless times on the way to Lexi's school:

Red Lion Pub in Thorpe, Surrey

We had left London earlier that day on our journey to drop Lexi at college with a visit to Ryan in Seattle first.

We will be moving from London in a few months so Lexi will no longer have a home in England.

Lexi hated leaving London, the city she originally couldn't fathom just what was so great about it.

Lexi didn't want to let go of London and it seemed London just couldn't let go of us either.

Sitting outside our Red Lion Hotel was one of the iconic London red phone booths or a Red Telephone Box as they are called here.

Further observation showed the phone booth was decor for the Elephant & Castle Pub & Restaurant located at the hotel.

Elephant & Castle? I recognized that name as an underground tube station in London. There's definitely a British theme working here.

Twice we even detected English accents from tourists in the area. Lexi said it made her feel at home.

It was perhaps a sign that a bit of London will always be with us.

And Then There Were Two

We started out as a couple. Got married, had two kids, raised them well, and sent them on their way into the world. Now we are back to being two again. It's like the "circle stories" the kids and I used to read together.

Our happily-ever-after tale seems so trite and storybook, but we know the richness of the  22 years of chapters that fill the book, complete with drama, joy, happiness, sadness, worry, adventure, and even mundaneness. 

We flew from London 9 days ago with 6 bags full to the brim and with various lists of items to buy, things to get set up, things to do. We were full of excitement about getting to see Ryan and getting Lexi set up in college. These last few weeks I have had one eye on the future, planning Lexi's new life and watching Ryan's new life unfold, and the other eye on the past, recalling life with the kids as they grew up.

 Now 2/4 of us are flying back to London with fewer bags, less full, and ourselves feeling a little empty. We accomplished what we set out to do and that's a good thing but it's hard to say goodbye when you don't want the story to end.

Thanks, Ryan and Lexi, for the perfect story.

Sleepless in Seattle

 I've been waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep. Darn jet lag. But while I lie there various observations come to mind and I thought I'd note them in my blog.

- The jet lag from the 8-hour time difference to the west coast is so much tougher for me than our usual 6-hour time difference Houston jet lag.

- Roles are reversed when your child reaches 22 and is on his own and off our payroll. We went with him to buy his first brand new car and he was the principal character in the events. I can remember buying family cars when the kids were younger and I would hang out with them while dad did the negotiations. Now it was Ryan going off to do the paperwork.

- The fact that Ryan has already found the local library and even obtained a library card makes me proud. He did it because he is finishing up his college thesis but I want to believe it's because it's something we've always done.

- Seattle is a beautiful, lush green city, even nicknamed the Emerald City. All the rain it gets at least produces a city that is easy on the eyes.

- People in these parts are so friendly. Maybe it's more pronounced for me coming from London where folks aren't exactly the friendliest (until you get to know them of course). It was very evident in Calgary, Canada where our flight coming here had a layover. Strangers in the airport just came over and struck up friendly conversations. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the next flight to Seattle being delayed an hour and a half. People just seem happy. Ryan says he has noticed this in Seattle as well.

- Then again there is such a thing as too friendly. Like when a stranger walked in off the street at the pizza restaurant last night and appeared at our table asking for a piece of pizza. Strange. Watch out when you sit at a window table close to the door. In case you are wondering, Chris gave a firm "no" to her request.

- I find myself freezing in the air conditioning here. Buildings are so much colder than in England where a lot of places don't even have air-conditioning.

- Food seems so much saltier in America now to me.

That's all I've got for now, hoping for some sleep!

Leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again.

These lyrics come to mind as we are on our trip to America to deliver our 18-year old daughter to college, that familiar rite of passage that is more poignant when it is timed with our upcoming move back home as well as our son's emergence into the "real world" having just graduated college.

I remember packing up my things to head off to college. I had the security of knowing that whatever I didn't take with me would be safely waiting for me in my room back home. Poor Lexi just has to trust that her remaining possessions will get packed up and delivered to our next residence, after Mom sorts through them of course to minimize what has to get shipped (literally on a ship) across the ocean.

Poor Lexi was also limited to what she can take to college by what fits in her allotment of two suitcases and one carry-on bag for the plane. So different from my experience of filling up our family car and my dad driving me. I remind her that the experience of living in England makes it a small price to pay. We'll just provision her up when we get to Nashville at the local Target.

Four years ago our son had to go through the same process of bundling up his possessions in suitcases for the plane ride to college from England. He had to travel by himself on the plane, meeting up with his dad already in the States on a trip. Man that was a hard goodbye at the airport knowing we would be an ocean apart.

Fortunately it all worked out extremely well for Ryan. He did great at college, academically, socially, spiritually. He got to spend Christmas breaks with us in exotic locations around the world, although that did mean spending many hours on jet planes.

Ryan's success story continues, landing an amazing job as an engineer with Boeing in Seattle. It is so exciting to come visit him after he's only been here three weeks and his apartment is all set up. He had the challenge of leaving college and getting moved to Seattle once again on an airplane. He's an old pro at that by now. I guess it's appropriate that he went to work for an airplane company.

Ryan now owns a brand new car that we got to help him pick out. Maybe now his life will be more "grounded". 

I think the kids can see now that having ex-pat parents doesn't totally ruin your life. It only makes you more aware that life is a journey. Funny that we keep running into that "journey" word. We rode on an elephant in Thailand that we thought was named Journey (was actually Jenny). And now we have a rental car in Seattle that is a Dodge Journey.

Lexi doesn't know when she'll be back in London again, 

Oh babe I hate to go...

But I think it will all be fine.

Lexi's Last Weekend, Properly Done

We are down to less than a week before Lexi leaves us for college. She should be packing and purging and getting organized and preparing for her move. But it's our last weekend in England with her. We want to make the most of it and enjoy some time together.

We spend Saturday in London reminiscing, doing some new things but also remembering meaningful places and times spent here over the last four years.

As we walked from the Waterloo train station to Leicester Square to buy half-price theatre matinee tickets, we snapped a photo on the Hungerford Bridge with the iconic Parliament building, Big Ben clock tower, and London Eye behind us:

All the rain we've had this summer produced beautiful blooming window-box flowers:

The British are concerned with things being done "properly". We had lunch at Byron Hamburgers where they claim to offer "Proper Hamburgers" modeled on American-style burgers.

Walking around the Covent Garden area, this sign outside a pub again boasts of being "proper":

We walked past one of Lexi's favorite candy stores that offers American sweets:

On a walking tour of the Covent Garden area three years ago with the American Women's group, I remember enjoying a stop inside the Royal Opera House. I wanted to share it with Chris and Lexi. A beautiful mirror and glass walled atrium houses a champagne bar: 

On one end a thin box appears to be suspended in mid-air. This optical illusion is actually a window from the Amphitheatre Bar located behind the mirrored wall. We took the escalator up and had fun checking out the view from the other side.

With some time to kill before our matinee showing, we took a break from all the walking by stopping in a pub for a quick pint and Archers and Coke:

Our last stop was the Phoenix theatre where we saw the play "Once" recommended by a friend from the Petroleum Women's Club.

It was a sweet love story musical, more enjoyed by me than Chris and Lexi I'm afraid.

Sunday dawns and we really should be getting stuff done for the upcoming trip in 5 days.... but it's our last Sunday together.

We planned a drive to the cute village of Windsor and booked afternoon tea at the Crooked House. Here is a photo of it from the internet:

Crooked House of Windsor tea room

Alas, road closures in the Surrey area for a cycling event forced us to drive around looking for a way to get there and then finally caused us to change our plans. Chris had the idea of revisiting the pub in Cobham where we had our first lunch here on a Sunday afternoon in January 2009 when we were visiting schools for Lexi. Another good idea spoiled by more road closures.

Chris has lived here for four years and not done the proper Afternoon Tea so we decided to partake of that ritual at a hotel in our neighborhood. We parked the car on a side street and walked to the historic Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge:

When we got home I looked up the history of the hotel and discovered this:

This privately owned historic country house became a hotel in 1856 and stands on the site of the grand Royal Palaces of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The great cedar tree at the front of the hotel was planted by Charles I to celebrate the birth of his son, Henry of Otelands.

I did indeed notice the towering cedar in front of the place!

Tea was served in the lobby:

Afternoon tea complete with scones, finger sandwiches and desserts can now be checked off for Chris!

Woo hoo, doesn't he look thrilled?