Family away from family

Chapter 1. Introduction

It's the end of season 2020/2021. At the beginning of the season I, Alix Evan Taylor, made the move from Olympique Lyonnais back to Arsenal. The club where it all started for me. I have played there all my life since I was a little kid. My Grandfather was a big fan of the club, so when I decide to play football he made sure I could play for the Arsenal. I played there in the senior team since 2014 and transferred to Lyon in 2018.

I played for Arsenals Centre of Excellence since I was six years old. As kids Leah Williamson and I played together throughout the teams, because she is a year younger than me, I switched teams sooner sometimes. We became the best of friends imaginable. Most of my international youth teams I also played alongside Leah and also Beth Mead and Keira Walsh. They all debuted in the senior national team before me due to an injury I picked up.

I also had the option to play for the Netherlands. Both my parents, Evelyn and David, moved there for football before I was born. My father played for clubs like Excelsior and PSV. After he stopped playing they both got invested with Dutch football teams as staff members, both men and women. When they went to the Netherlands for international duties I stayed back in England with my grandparents. Sometimes I went with them to tournaments, I loved that the most as a kid. They really are praised there, but because I didn't live in the Netherlands I never got that connection with the country as I have with England. So, I kept going to become a Lioness. Nowadays my parents are still closely involved with the Dutch women's team.

During my time at Lyon, Lucy Bronze and I got into a relationship. I never really knew her before I went to Lyon, but since my move, there was this click between us. It took us some time to figure out we liked each other more than just friends though, right before the start of our last season with the club we made it official.

Due to Covid-19 our last season with Lyon got cut short. During lockdown Lucy and I decided to spend our time in England and eventually bought a house together in Manchester. We really liked the fact to be close to family and friends again and therefore both made the decision to transfer back to the WSL.

Lucy got back to Manchester City and I to Arsenal. We kept the shared house, she took Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway in as roommates and I went to live with Leah. For the upcoming two season we both play for those named teams, after those seasons we will decide what we do next.