Into our future

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9th July

I have not forgotten you my lovely blog readers but the last few days since His VISA for the UK was issued have been packed full of planning, organising and much happiness which has meant that I have just not had the time to write.

We submitted his application to the UK embassy in New York on the Friday but due to the 4^th of July holiday they did not receive it until Tuesday. We got the 1^st email Tuesday morning to say that our application was now being dealt with. The nerves really set in at this point; had we sent all the right paperwork, did we show that we were financially sound, had we proved to them without any doubt that this was a genuine relationship? Needless to say we had not submitted the URL of my blog as supporting evidence, I am pretty sure the UK embassy in NY was definitely NOT ready for that!

We had paid for the expedited service through Worldbridge, an additional $300 on top of the standard VISA fee of $1349 but we had waited so very long to be together that anything to speed things up was a must. The Worldbridge service means that your application effectively jumps the queue and they promised an answer within 15 days compared to the normal VISA waiting time of 45+ days and so settled in for our wait. We had done our research though and thanks to the fabulous site UK-Yankee.com we knew that lots of people were getting their answer in less than 7 days, in fact in the last month most people posting there had received an answer within a 2 – 3 days but we were not prepared for what happened next.

Tuesday lunch time, just 2 hours after the first email we received another email. For a moment I think he assumed it was either an error or a call for more information to be submitted but it was neither of those things. In my Skype was the man I love but he couldn’t speak properly, all I got was… “Oh my love….oh my…my love? I…It’s…another email…I….YES!” My hands started shaking and tears instantly filled my eyes. “Really? OMG, really? Please tell me you are sure?” He forwarded the email to me so I could see with my very own eyes.

“Your VISA for the UK has been issued. Your passport and documents have been sent back to you via UPS and are due for arrival at your address tomorrow”

2 hours! We had waited 2 fucking amazing hours. That $300 was the best money I have EVER spent.

As you can image there ensued a period of short period of total breakdown from both us. This has been such a long, much longer than anticipated due to other people’s incompetence, journey and finally here we were, Tuesday 5^th July, looking at each other in Skype trying to make sense of what had just happened. We had endured months and months of being apart, both of us aching for each other and our life together, we had battled through all the hurdles that had been put in our way, we had been determined in the face of adversity to get to this point, and now here it was, the day we had worked towards relentlessly for months was really here.

I can’t find words to describe that moment that will do it justice. Maybe only the two of us will ever truly know what it meant to us, but I think that some of you who have been part of this journey in some form or other will have some understanding of that moment, the joy and relief pulling us both apart, neither of us knowing what to do next, shock and disbelief sending us back to the email time and again just to make sure it really did say what we thought it said and eyes, when you have lived through Skype for as long as we have you learn a person eyes in so very much detail, we didn’t need words, it was all in our eyes.

That was Tuesday and since then we have shared the news with all our friends and family, my twitter feed made me cry all over again to be honest and some of the wonderful comments on my blog and emails I have received from people have been truly amazing. To everyone who has sent us messages, thank you, you have no idea what they have meant to us.

His passport arrived back safely the next day and a flight has been booked. He arrives here in the UK on the 18^th July. In just 9 days time we will be together, forever and this journey that started over 18 months ago with an innocent met online will take a new path, one on which we can finally hold hands and travel down together, side by side, into our future.

Mollyxxx

Ps…Did you know he blogs too? Not often I grant you, but please read His version of these events at Signs Of Intelligent Life.

If you are trying to the emigrate from the USA to the UK then make sure you check out uk-Yankee.com. It has been the most amazing resource for us, answering many of our questions and helping us get through all the paper work. Alternatively post any questions you have here or email me at [email protected] and I will do my best to share with you everything we have learnt.