‘I miss my six sisters, but Adam is settled here and he’s my main priority’
Catherine Wilson (45) is originally from Co Down. She now lives in Wiltshire, near Stonehenge, and works as head of customer operations with Game. She is a single parent and lives with her son, Adam Brittain (13). She says:
Ihave lived away from home for more than 20 years. I worked abroad for a couple of years after school, and then my dad died, so I moved home to live with my mum and be there for her. I studied at Queen’s University and then worked abroad again since I had studied languages.
I met my husband, who was from Glasgow, and we got married in 2001 and moved to Germany because of his job, then moved to Wiltshire when Adam was one. I got back into my career when he went to nursery school but, unfortunately, my husband and I separated in 2009 and got divorced two years later.
At this time, both my parents are dead. They had been the main reason for thinking of returning home, so now I have to think of Adam and what would be best for him.
He is settled in school and his friends are here. I also have a good group of friends who I had met over the years.
I am the youngest of seven girls. I miss my sisters and would like to be closer to them as they are all still in Northern Ireland, but they are focused on their own families.
I often think about moving back home, and Adam and I talk about it quite a bit, but for now being here makes much more sense.
I am a single parent and the breadwinner. I have a really good job and a salary that allows Adam and I to have a comfortable lifestyle. I don’t think I would find as senior a post in Northern Ireland, and I would be working for half the salary. Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but making sure Adam is cared for is my main priority.
I worry about what would happen if I got sick or lost my job, so I try to save as much money as possible when I am still earning a good salary.
Adam will be going to university in a few years’ time and I need to plan ahead for that.
Maybe that would be a time for me to move back to Northern Ireland. Who knows? I will decide when that time comes.
I love that Adam has been brought up in a society where he isn’t asked which school he went to or what his surname is.
I’ve brought him up to think if you are nice, you are nice and that is all that matters, not the colour of your skin or which church you belong to. I am glad life isn’t dictated by the colour of the kerbs on your street.
I do worry about what goes on back home and I keep an eye on the news all the time. I am fearful that we are going backwards and that politics is being run by parties from the extremes of life in Northern Ireland, while most people are like me and in the middle.
Our concerns are about things like good healthcare, pensions and job opportunities for young people.
Unfortunately, many of the people in the middle ground didn’t vote in the last election, and I think they are a generation who have become apathetic and frustrated by politics. It could be another generation before this changes again.
Will I ever come home? I miss my old friends who have known me all my life and who know me inside out, and I miss my family but, for now, the advantages of life here outweigh the negatives of moving back.”