Sweetheart (yeah, I know...I've gone all Yank again), you couldn't offend me if you tried! Count yerself (back to the Irish) lucky because Jack and I 100% had intentions of visiting you at your homeplace before we left the UK. Unfortunately, all the craziness of the house sale and move got in the way, but I've always regretted not making it to yours for a visit before we left. I guess our uneasy wires were getting crossed on that front. You were uneasy thinking you'd offended and I was uneasy because we never made the visit.
All very good here, thanks! US fiancé visa requirements meant we'd to be married within 90 days of arriving in America. We planned most of it from the UK, Ger (the duke) was our Best Man and my daughter Sarah was Maid of Honour on the big day. I made the mistake of letting the Lads sort Ger's tux on their own when they were more interested in getting to the pub so his jacket was a bit on the 'small' side. They didn't seem to mind, so I wasn't going to be a Bridezilla over it. That said, never send two men on a mission to organise a tux when their minds are on the pub.
After the wedding, we spent three leisurely weeks traveling our way up the coast of California on our Honeymoon. We'd an amazing time of it, starting in San Diego and finishing up in San Francisco. Neither of us had ever been and it was absolutely lovely from start to finish. That said, Santa Barbara was my favourite spot and Jack really enjoyed San Francisco, so I expect a bit of a debate when we venture back for a short anniversary visit at some point.
We'd to stay with my mom and step-dad for the first nine months and that was a bit of a struggle for everyone, but we all survived it. Staying with them was a big help to us and made 'the rest' that much easier to sort. We moved over in June of 2014, wedding, honeymoon and cars were sorted in July, jobs secured in November and a new four bedroom home purchased in March. Easy game, right?
The boys have settled really well, but their initial struggle was a costly one! My mom's place has no fenced in area and her house is on a busy street. Archie saw a dog he wanted to say hi to across the road and he had a run-in with a car on his way over...the week before we were due to move to our own place. He was a bit bruised but generally fine. The car? Not so much. The lil shit cost us $1,300 in repairs to the car he sideswiped. Fortunately, our own house has a fully fenced in back garden, so no fear of a repeat performance.
Jack is doing his electrical engineer gig at a place about 25 minutes from home and I work the sunrise shift (4am - noon) part-time at the JACK Casino in downtown Cleveland. Yep. Married to Jack and work at JACK. Couldn't make it up.
Healthcare over here is SHOCKING! You lot can complain about the NHS all ya like, but don't knock it because ye don't know how good you have it. Jack and I had a race in 2017 to see who could rack up the highest medical bills. He'd cancer and I'd a dodgy heart issue. We thought it'd be a close run thing, but my bills crushed his by a country mile. Our bill (after insurance) was about 7k. Suppose it's better than the 400k+ we'd have owed without insurance, with the added bonus of both being fully sorted now. Anyway...appreciate what you have. Whether it be good health or NHS. Either way, you're winning.
That's the abridged version. I'll post pics to go with this lot tomorrow when I'm more awake. Today is my Friday and I've been up since 12:45 am. I always try to stay awake until at least 9:00 pm on the 'Friday' so I'll be right back into the real time zone by morning. On the plus side, it means I get weekends off to spend time with Jack and the boys. Speaking of, I've told him what I'm up to right now, so I'd imagine you'll be getting a shout-out from the man himself shortly.
Really glad we're catching up because it never sat right with us missing out on that visit.