I just found the PM I sent to Stilly, back in August 2004. What I said then still holds true - I never thought that I would want to leave the UK and my family but found a reason so strong that I had no alternative. Here's the relevant part of the PM:-

"Hi Maggie

Kendal and I started corresponding when he pm'd me about a post I'd put on 'dating behaviour'. We pushed stuff to and fro but I reckoned that the distance was too great for anything to happen and I think he did as well.

However, when he knew he was coming to the UK he asked if we could meet and I offered to put him up for a while. In the end my son picked him up from the airport and he stayed with me for about ten days, by which time we had got very close. I took him to Morticia's but within two days, having been to Tintagel, he phoned and asked if he could come back and stay with me again. He stayed with me for the rest of his time in the UK and I felt a little guilty that he wasn't getting around and seeing people to the extent he had planned but he seemed to be happy enough as we were.

When he went back I missed him so much that I told him that, if he wanted me, I would come out to Maine to be with him. I went over for a week at the end of June for Old Songs and loved the place. I'm going back over for when he has his biopsy, just for a few days and then going back in October for the Getaway.

My house is now on the market and once I sell up I will move to Maine permanently. We both want to travel and intend doing a round America trip next year, along the coasts and the borders just about, in a motor-home.

The relationship just feels so right that I have no doubt that I'm doing the right thing. Kendall is a lovely man, with an amazing sense of humour and very at ease with himself. He is also intelligent, a must as far as I'm concerned and we share a lot of interests. I'll miss my family a bit but we intend visiting the UK very regularly and they can always come out to us. However, if I don't do this I will always regret it."

Due to health issues the plan to travel didn't work out but we have fun anyway.