The road that brought me home

Ah, the question that has been flooding my messages. Friends, family, followers, colleagues: why did I move home. Well, it’s about time I answer…

First, I want to note that although it may seem like I have it together right now, and things are going as planned, that’s far from reality. The truth is none of this was planned. If you had told me at the beginning of the year I would be moving back to Mankato, Minnesota, and buying a home I would have told you that you were crazy! Interestingly enough though, I did put buying a home on my Vision Board! I wasn’t sure how it was going to happen, but I did put it there!  

It all started with COVID-19. Much like the rest of the world, COVID-19 put a wrench in my life. It changed the course of it. For the last two years, I have been traveling back and forth from London and America. America being my “primary residence” and London being my “second”. I had been working on my Visa the entire time. Let me tell you, it’s a process and a lengthy one at that. When COVID-19 hit I was a couple of months away from being in the clear and ready to make London my primary and fulltime home. This Virus changed everything. Although I originally moved to London for B, it worked out that my company wanted me to move there as well! It was truly a win-win, until COVID.

B and I had hit a wall in our relationship that I did not think we could come back from. I just didn’t see a path forward. This happened about 3 weeks before COVID got really bad, right before countries started shutting down. I can remember being on a business trip where I was going from Paris to Germany to Amsterdam. We ended up canceling our last leg because we were nervous we were going to get stuck in Amsterdam if we took that last flight. We cut it short and all headed back to our homes. We were right to do that! Shortly after that, we went into lockdown. Mind you, I had already made the decision that if I left B, I would stay in London.

Well, that option was taken from me a couple of months back when Donald Trump announced a Level 4 travel advisory. He basically told Americans abroad “get home now or be prepared to shelter in place until further notice”. The second was not an option for me because of my Visa. It was going to expire, and I would be “overstaying”, which could bar me from the country for 7+ years. In 24 hours, I had to pack what I could for an unknown amount of time and leave my London home. I packed two big suitcases, a carryon and left London. That was almost 4 months ago.

Even then when I left, I still thought I was going back to London to live. I thought there was a chance. I knew the second I got on that plane my relationship with the man I thought I would build the rest of my life with was over. I knew it. I sobbed on and off the entire flight. I felt it to my core. After about a week at home and many conversations with my mom and dad, I made the decision that I was staying in America. I was going to move back home and set roots in Minnesota, well somewhere in America! It was all up in the air at that point.

I’m the type of woman that when I make my mind up – that’s it. There is no stopping me and I will make it happen. It was the same when I moved to London! I couldn’t be stopped. I just leaped. It’s what I have always done. Does it always work out the way I planned? No, but it always makes for an adventurous chapter.

My ah-ha moment came on a Zoom call with my Minnesota crew. I thought about the life I could be living back in my home state. Being close to family, friends, the ability to buy a house, all the things. It just clicked. I knew then that I would be setting roots in Minnesota and that was that. Legit, that was that. I started talking to realtors and I made the executive decision. I’ve never wavered from that decision since.

Now, what brought me to Mankato you ask? The white house! Not that White House, my white house. I saw a listing online and I KNEW I loved it. I knew it would be my home. I asked for a floor plan, and the next morning I was inside this white house. I fell in love with it. Instantly. The open floor plan, big backyard, everything. 24 hours later, I had an offer in and was in the thick of negations. Yes, I’m that woman. I told you. When I set my mind to something, there is no stopping me. I’m a woman who knows what she wants. Some would say impulsive, and you know what… I’m okay with that.

About 3 weeks after I made this decision, as I waited for London to open up its gates so I could move my belongings to America, I organized, planned, and prepped my heart to say goodbye to my London life and love in London. A couple of weeks back the gates opened, I booked movers and I was on a flight to London to pack up my home there and ship it here. That’s a story for another day, and I will tell it but not today.

My message today? Things don’t always work out as we planned. They don’t and they won’t. We have to accept that and be willing to roll with the punches life throws at us. I never would have thought I would actually leave B. Never. I never would have thought I would be living in Minnesota a mile away from my mom. But here I am and I’m happy. I’m sad my life in London was stolen from me by COVID, but I am happy that I took what could have been sour lemons and I made the best damn lemonade possible.

I am proud of myself today and I am happy to share that I am home. 

-Hope xoxo