The very second I arrived in London age 19 I knew I never wanted to live in Belfast again.. I left because of the troubles .. i was fortunate that i chose to come away and was not forced out...I am glad that I was born and brought up in Belfast with a loving family and relatives but there was nothing there for me ,no prospects and the 'troubles' was just the icing on the cake... a year or so after I left two people I knew well and considered good friends were killed.. it only made me more determined to live my life and do as well as I could in every way... I have never been 'homesick' but knew people who were and I respected that ,they chose to go back to Belfast.. girls were expected to just get married and have a family ..when i asked for promotion in a company where i was standing in for the 'boss' who didn't come back( and I was doing a good job) i was told "sure you'll be getting married and having wee babies soon" a man got the job and expected me to show him 'the ropes'... another good reason to leave the place...We should all do what is best for us. and If I had have listened to people I wouldn't have done half the things that i have done.. It is a big privilege to have freedom of choice ,,something I did not have in Belfast ..who would have known that 'the troubles' would have gone on for so very long.. i feel for
everyone who wants/ wanted to go back and were homesick, but we are all on our own individual journeys in life and whats right for one is not right for another..I miss nothing about Belfast,.maybe it is because i left so young alone and the majority of my life has been spent elsewhere...and its been and is a good life...and I am very grateful for it...i might have been out with my friends who were murdered ..