What is special about the title, you may well ask. Well, it was 54 years ago on this date that my family and I set foot on these shores after the trip across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary. The blogs below all tell the story of that trip and the life since over several different years.
What has changed in those years that makes this anniversary any different? Well for starters, I have recently celebrated my 85th birthday and except for being much feebler as compared to the young man that landed that day and for getting more and more absent minded, another thing that comes with older age, I am still pretty much the same happy go lucky, grumpy person that I was way back then with the outlook of one that has seen and done a lot in a lifetime. I became a citizen in 1976 mainly so that I could have my say in the general elections. I have been married 3 times, have several children and stepchildren spread between the USA and England, some with families of their own and all grown older following the years as they advance. I grew too old to play football (soccer to the uninitiated), the love of my life which probably accounts for 3 wives leaving me, retiring from the game in my 72nd year because of knee replacement surgery and spent the next 10 years going to the gym to stay fit and healthy. Ten years ago, I started blogging and writing poetry and this site is the second on which I post. My original site is still up and can be reached at this link. After my third and last wife moved on to her greener pastures, leaving me the house, I became interested in Ponds, Pond building and keeping Koi which I have done as a hobby for the past 29 years. Now, in the twilight of my years, I have other plans which involve selling this house and moving full time into my RV to travel for as long as I can drive and then, when I become too big a menace to others on the road, park it somewhere and wait for the end.
Incidentally, of the members of my family, several have passed on including my Mother and Stepfather. my two Brothers and my sister, all whom were older than me. The ones who made the trip who have passed include my wife of that time, Valerie, my stepdaughter Alison who was a nurse and the dog, Melody leaving my other step daughter Catherine, who is a Librarian now retired, my daughter Leslie who owns her own business and William, my stepson who is avery successful Doctor. William lives in Houston and Catherine and Leslie live in Fort Plain, New York, the town in which we originally settled all of those years ago.
So, Happy Anniversary to me on this day and to Catherine, Leslie and William. Hopefully there will be a few more to celebrate and write about.