INTERNATIONAL LIVING
Well, I find it funny that I'm being told, "Don't leave the US!" by both Republican friends and Democrats. The truth is, The Sage and I have been considering just that for the past two years, and have been subscribers of "International Living."
We're not well-heeled. I make a lower-six-figure salary, which for most Americans is a dream come true. More than a decade ago The Sage (my 30-years husband, for new readers, a blessed result of our teenage love and marriage that stuck), smarter and more talented than I, and I kind of agreed to switch roles -- I had the opportunity to advance from a stay-at-home-mom and part-time PR person to a full-time position with a top public company with advancement opportunities, while our five brilliant and challenging offspring (we had five teenagers at the same time!) were approaching or reaching adolescence, which required a permanent, and steady, presence at home. The Sage provided that stability. In so doing, he sacrificed his own marketability.
Now all our kids are in their twenties and, while not having perfect lives, they have our confidence that they are well equipped to live lives of value -- at least as well as the most of us. And we (their parents)=== have made, since the 2004 presidential elections, a serious examination of international options for our post-50's life.
The bottom line is, I don't want to spent the rest of my life away from our children, and I think I can safely say that The Sage doesn't either -- especially since he never takes a day off in lieu of caring for whatever of our kids' needs are if he can alleviate them! But if I spend time dreaming about escaping from the travesty that my country has become under GWB (and becomes worse under possible ensuing Rethug administrations), what are other Americans considering? Instead of calling upon our "brightest and best," will we be, explicably, be driving those very Americans to seek another shelter? And is there, anywhere in the world, an alternative America, such as the governmental system we were raised to, and still, revere?
posted by Motherlode at 1:56 PM
3 Comments:
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of leaving but then I look at my grandson and think, I have to stay an little longer and fight for him. He's too small to leave yet.
That's my bottom line, too. They're why we fight.
My husband has family in England (outside of London) who just spent a week with us here in Michigan. Ironically, they're so disillusioned with their country that they're desperate to move here. They would actually make out well since the dollar is so depressed right now. Each British pound is currently trading around $1.80 US, so their income would almost double. They also envy our low housing prices here in the Midwest. A starter flat near them is about $250,000 US dollars and has 2 bedrooms and one bath.
Besides the enviable currency difference, their motivation was racist - at least in my opinion. They kept complaining about all the immigrants and Muslims. They actually commented that Blair is diluting the English people because of his open door policy.
Anyway, I'm not sure there is a "perfect" place to move to. I think the better thing to do is fight for better conditions here at home for the sake of future generations.
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