Cover Story
South Florida Sun Sentinel

February 9, 2003

A FORETHOUGHT SETTLEMENT
By Alissa Allen

A The idea of "home" had always been hard to visualize. Before moving to Fort Lauderdale, I lived and worked in 19 cities in 11 countries.

But in August 2000, my husband and I found a house on a bend of the New River.

Born in Canada to an Irish mother and a Trinidadian father, I spent most of my childhood in Toronto. In my teen years, I saw London, Paris and Port-of-Spain. As an adult, different businesses took me to Amsterdam and Geneva, and eventually to some of the world's danger zones such as Riyadh and Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia; and Tangiers in Morocco.

My husband works as a pilot. He was born in Arkansas but spent most of his life in Southern California. We met overseas and were married in Toronto.

I immigrated to the United States in October 1997 as a newlywed, leaving a prestigious post in the Middle East to care for my mother-in-law who was diagnosed with cancer. Because her home was on the West Coast, we went through immigration procedures there. Our whole family felt the double strain of personal crisis combined with the complexity of the Immigration and Naturalization Service applications.

We had moved suddenly and had been married only recently. This made our immigration paperwork more complex and highly scrutinized.

But too soon, my husband's mother passed away. Shortly after, the formalities of my immigration were finalized, and my husband and I resolved to make a new start. With the entire world to choose from, and the ink still wet on my new green card, we decided on South Florida -- a place we had previously visited on business and vacation.

Research became a key focus, using computer resources to obtain information about specific communities and neighborhoods. I also checked out Web sites to investigate work environments and read through entertainment guides.

I planned a four-week trip, a drive from Melbourne to Key West, to see for myself what we were getting into. I visited in August, since it was off-season and the best time for cheap hotel rates.

A month away from home would be expensive, but less expensive than moving somewhere, hating it and then having to move again.

From the first moment, what impressed me about Fort Lauderdale was the raw energy that came from what I perceived to be a diverse, thriving community. It seemed to me like a place with all the ingredients to create its own mythology and then, in turn, live up to it.

My husband joined me after 10 days to purchase the house. I had called him excitedly to say that at last I found a place where we could create a home.

Our house sits on a quiet residential street, cozy and dreamlike in a natural hammock of mature trees with singsong names I had never heard before like "gumbo-limbo." Yet it is less than 5 minutes from the downtown business district and the beach.

My husband and I have nicknamed it "the tree house," and the local flock of parrots would agree. In any case, it is the kind of home I don't think you could find anywhere else. And it's a far cry from the snow of Toronto.

The traveler in me was delighted by the sound of Spanish, French, Creole, Dutch and Russian spoken as we walked along Las Olas Boulevard, the heart of our neighborhood. And I still smile when I hear South African cadences at the local grocery store, or when the person I meet out walking the dog speaks to it in Italian.

But if Fort Lauderdale was going to be our home, and not merely another way station in the current of a life lived as an expatriate, the challenge was to assimilate and truly become a member of the community. It was time to roll up my sleeves.

The United Way of Broward County hired me in 2002 as regional director of community building, and I spent the past year working with more than 59 social service agencies that operate 105 programs serving the needs and improving the lives of local citizens.

If I have learned anything from my experiences, here and abroad, I would say the best thing to do in a new place is open the phone book, find something you love, something you know and are passionate about, and then volunteer to help.

With the United Way's major fund-raising cycle now complete, I have gone back to work as a writer, marketing my work to Hollywood and New York as well as overseas.

After traveling the world, we found a tree house by the water. What a great comfort to have found a home so exotic in a place so familiar.

The occasional "My Story, A New Life" presentation features people from outside the United States who have established themselves successfully in South Florida.

Copyright © 2003.