30 December 2002

Why did we Move to France?

Just about every week someone emails me to ask how I ended up in France.  I will try to explain.

This has been one of the most challenging years of our lives.  When we first decided that we wanted to live in another country for two or three years we could never have imagined all the things we would face.   We also wanted to learn more languages, and we weren’t getting any younger.

Conflicts arose from our grown up daughter, leaving of friends and family, finding a new home, and the craziness of that came after September 11.  We have spent this year trying to create a life for ourselves in the small town of Senlis, just 20 minutes north of Paris.

So much was left behind.  I remember saying at Jay’s going away dinner just before leaving for England in January that his employees and friends shouldn’t envy us for going to France.  We had a big hole in our hearts over this change.  The hole is still there, but we are feeling the pain less.

We have learned to savor every moment.  If there were times when we fell into the habit of taking anything at all for granted, it seemed like something would happen to yank us back.  Sometimes those reminders came from the problems we have faced with our grown daughter, and the custody of our granddaughter, Cat.  Sometimes reminders came from the happiness of eating three meals a day together, and walking Cat to school everyday.

France has been good for us.  We’ve slowed down.  Feeling life is taken for granted here.  I’ve learned to cook real meals again.  We’ve taken time almost every day to talk about life in this universe, drink coffee together in the mornings, and take walks.  We’ve created a darling garden that gave us great pleasure and serenity. 

The challenge of setting up housekeeping in a huge house and having to buy almost everything new in a foreign language has given us lots of things to laugh at, including ourselves.  Learning to “eat” in restaurants where a raw egg seems to magically appear in the middle of the food we’ve ordered has made for some interesting moments.  We’ve traveled to far off places to look at ancient churches and works of art. 

Many wonderful friends have helped us when I was alone in Europe with Catlyn, when we had to travel, and day to day.  There is no way we could have gotten through this year without so much love and support…and email.  It sounds corny, but I have been deeply touched by many of the people in my life…and by some of the people that read this column every Monday.

After almost a year Catlyn is speaking French like a native.  She is a happy confident child who loves swimming every week at the indoor pool in Senlis, riding her scooter, playing soccer with Jay and exploring.  She especially loved our visit to Germany.  Her ability to speak French was hurried along with her constant need to tell stories and make friends.  Christopher, her big gray American cat is still her best buddy, and Sarah, her miniature French rabbit likes to run around with her and jump up on the couch to be petted.

We came to France to have a simpler life, and we do.  It seems more like the 1950’s here, only with computers and the Internet. 

We wanted to watch America from “across the pond” as they say, and that has been a great experience.  We’ve learned some French, made many new friends, and found a sense of peace in the middle of a lot of craziness.  We can never tell you enough times how much we appreciate the connection we have with our loved ones, and with you.  We send you wishes for a healthy and fulfilling 2003.  Annie