KERRY MACIVER: It’s a wonderful life but the pull of home remains strong
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Not too long ago I got a direct message on Twitter. Which is strange because nobody ever messages me there.
I wondered at first if it was one of those annoying brands asking me to become an ambassador for their new diamanté dog beds despite me not even having a dog. Instead, it was the Ross-shire Journal’s Hector Mackenzie asking me if I wanted to write a wee something on being a Scot in the USA.
I was brought up on the Black Isle, went to Fortrose Academy, and didn’t fully appreciate all that I had living there. When I was 18, the excitement and bright lights of Edinburgh called and I left to study music at Napier University.
Along the way, I married a computer scientist, who will be known from now on as “Computer Manny,” and when a job opportunity came up for him in New York, I jumped at the chance to get away from Edinburgh. The bright lights had dimmed and I was itching for a change.
The job was only for nine months “just to see how it goes”, but there was a hint of staying longer if we liked it. To me it boiled down to two critical things: Would I miss Edinburgh?And maybe more importantly: Could I live without fish suppers?
Fish and chips is my favourite food in the world. So much so, that my local chippy knew my voice as soon as I said “Hiya” on the phone, then promised me my usual would be ready in 20 minutes. Could I live without my fish suppers? I wasn’t sure, but I heard you could pretty much find anything in New York, so we packed everything up, flew our cat Daisy over, and started a very different life over the pond.
Did I miss Edinburgh? Not one single bit. Fish suppers? Well, I solved that problem when I found a British-style chippy the day after we arrived. It wasn’t quite the same as home, but it was good enough for me. Plus they sold Irn Bru and deep-fried Mars Bars which more than made up for it.
Soon our nine months were up and we had another decision to make. Go back to Edinburgh or accept a job in Silicon Valley, the centre of the tech world.
Before accepting the job, Computer Manny showed me the San Francisco Bay Area where Silicon Valley is based. As our plane descended into San Jose I could see the mountains, the bay, the sun beating down on the scorched land, and I knew I would love it here.
It’s been four years, and I still love it. There’s even an excellent chippy right on the Pacific Ocean to keep my cravings for fish suppers at bay.
Despite this, homesickness makes my heart ache. Not for Edinburgh. That was never home. But the longing to be back in the Highlands is like a punch in the gut. It comes out of nowhere. It’s brutal. That’s when I find myself sipping a peaty dram and looking up the HSPC website for places to live.
Despite all my years away I still feel a physical pull to the Black Isle, and in my head I’m not sure I ever really left. Any chance I can get to feel closer to home I’ll take it, which is why I decided to message Hector back and say “Yes” to writing about life as a Scot in the USA.
Kerry originally hails from the Black Isle and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and needy rescue cat Daisy. She writes about being a Scot in the USA, plays Scottish waltzes on the accordion, and loves photographing the Bay Area. Find her on twitter @kerrymacwriter
