Everyone has a story. To be perfectly honest I’ve always struggled with opening up and telling my story. Maybe because I’m an only child? Who knows. Honestly, I think it’s because I truly just don’t know where to start. Do I start with how and why I started my career in fitness? Or the fact that I have a hereditary kidney disease? Maybe I should talk about why we won’t be having children? Or maybe how I met my husband, and what made our wedding so special? Where do you start with the story of your life? Let’s start with why and how we started to live our second life!
I was born and raised in Derby, England. When I was 19 I met Bob, and seven years later we were married. A year prior to us getting married we had our first California vacation. When we got on the airplane to go home I cried. Like ugly cried. The kind of crying that dwells in the pit of your stomach, and throws a black cloud over your soul. You see we’d stayed with friends, and I’d been able to experience a whole different lifestyle. And I wanted it. We immediately made plans to emigrate to America. Four years later our plan became a reality.
In April 2001 we moved to California. As expected we settled easily into American life. We fully embraced our new lives in America, including the American diet and the American portion sizes. Within 6 years I’d gained 25lbs. The law of thermogenics indicates that if you eat more calories than you burn, you put on weight. Turns out that it’s true! It is all down to math, damn. This was the time that I was unable to work due to visa restrictions. I was just waiting for my green card.
Seven years after moving we got our green cards. I decided that the 25lbs also had to go, I was going to restart my career in fitness. I started working out everyday doing a mix of cardio, strength, and yoga. Combined with cleaning up my vegetarian diet I lost 25lbs. I was back to the weight I was in my 20’s, and I felt GOOD! I reinstated my fitness certifications, got insurance, and I started work again.
In the almost 20 years I’ve lived in the USA I’ve worked at a lot of local gyms, pilates and yoga studios. Plus coached private clients. I’ve attended the local college to pursue further education, gained more fitness certifications and become a yoga teacher. I’ve attended fitness conventions, expo’s and I started running. Even placing in my age groups in some races. In 2016 I completed my first triathlon. I’ve tried surfing, swam with manta rays, been kayaking, hiking in movie ranches, and whale watching. We’ve been to Disneyland, Oregon, Chicago, DisneyWorld, Seattle, San Francisco and Hawaii. Bob became a Disney cast member, I became a yoga teacher. The biggest thing we did was in 2013 when we sealed the deal on our transatlantic move, and became U.S. Citizens.
We’ve travelled 6000 miles to pursue our American Dream, and we’re living it to the fullest!