In September 1977, when I was 12 years old, I moved to New York from London with my parents and brother. My father had just turned 50 and had sold his company to a US business who asked him to work for them in the US. I had been to the USA on vacation a few times but didn't have any idea what it would be like to go to school and have american friends. I soon settled in and the US became my home. Six years later in 1983, we moved back to the UK where I went back to school for a year before returning to the US to go to college. I went to Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts and graduated in 1988. By the time I graduated, I had spent almost half my life living in the US but decided to return to the UK as I had not lived there as an adult. I always thought I would return to the US at some point but it never happened. As I got older, I let go of the dream of coming back and just visited when I could through work or vacation. Last year, out of the blue, I was approached by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to come and work for them. The museum is in a place I know, Boston, and it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. So in November 2015, I re-emigrated to the US after leaving almost 30 years ago. I turned 50 last year, just like my father, when he chose to emigrate in 1977. I hadn't expected this to happen but life can surprise you when you least expect it and I have decided it is never too late to have an adventure.

– Carolyn Royston

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