About Us

Prior to 1970, my personal exposure to the US consisted of very infrequent visits generally referred to as "home leave". Four of them to be exact. They were more like extended vacations to the United States.

They barely lasted more than a month, and were usually spent in locations totally foreign to my mother, my sister and I.

Yet, they were part and parcel of family life in the US "Foreign Service" but with a slight twist ...we'd never lived here before.

To us, home was anywhere, and everywhere in a long list of countries from post-war Europe to the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

It was in Afghanistan that I met my future husband...and at the time, he was in the military, stationed in Pakistan.

Fast forward to early '70s...

For our family, there was a time when Woodbridge, Virginia was nothing more than an exit sign on northbound Interstate 95 North.

It meant we were inching closer to our destination after a long road trip from western North Carolina to the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C.

You guessed correctly. It was a job offer...you know, the kind you can't refuse, that suddenly brought us to the Washington D.C. area to eventually settle in northern Virginia.

We were lucky enough to be able to live with my parents while we lesiurely explored various neighborhoods we could potentially call home.

Gone were the days when reading the handy "post report" provided all the details and everything we needed to know about our new home.

We dissected the I-495 beltway into sections and carefullly explored each nieghborhood. In the end, we settled on Woodbridge, Va.

That was more than 30 years ago...and we're still here.

So why did we settle in Woodbridge? Woodbridge, Virginia offers a variety of perks.

Where else can you:

• Drive east a couple hours to dip your toes in the Atlantic Ocean
• Head west to hike Stony Man Mountain clad in autumn colors,
• Sometimes enjoy 4 distinctive seasons, emphasis on "sometimes"
• Walk in the footsteps of history or participate in it
• Enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the nation's capital
• Picnic on the lawn at Wolf trap and listen to your favorite band
• Sing along with the Jersey Boys at the National Theater
• Attend a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet at the Kennedy Center...
• and still get home in time for the late night news?

Yes, we're still here after all this time. It's home and now when I go on vacation, I head in the opposite direction across the Atlantic.