So I have this little plaque given to me by a friend a while ago, when I was still in the states and moving into a new house. I had seen this saying before... and okay... let's be honest, it's a little sappy, no? Nonetheless this little token of friendship made it's way out of a box and onto a table in my bedroom when we moved to France because I adore the gal that gave it to me ... no matter what it said.
When I dusted it (Yes! I do dust! .... sometimes ... okay just occasionally ... okay usually just before my parents come to visit ...). when I dust it, I kinda think, "yeah, yeah ... whatever." Next to it is a wooden bird ('French Guy' hates it! In fact there used to be TWO of them, but the other 'mysteriously' disappeared. ??) and the other thing is a petite pair of antique fabric baby shoes, and yes! Petite Fille has actually worn them!
Recently I started more to think about this saying. There has been an unexpected change of climate regarding the notion of living in France. The change has been more than just the real climate change from grey and rainy here in Normandy to upper 70's and sunny...which is F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S......but no, it's been more than that.
Suddenly, I am feeling HOME. We have been here for 10 months now and I am finally starting to feel okay about it....more than okay really. Which if you are a friend of mine or have read this blog from the beginning, you will know that it has been a really, really rough transition to the vie en France......
I looked around and I started to realize that I like our house. It's pretty tiny, oddly configured, has had some bad remnants of the past occupants in the form of wall-paper and tile, and by European standards, at just 100 years old, it is far too young and just doesn't have that 200 or 300 year old charm! But I like it. I actually think it is coming together pretty well. We still have middle-guys room to strip and paint, still have some pretty ugly tile in the kitchen and are still trying to figure out what someone was thinking when they installed the useless bathtub....despite that the house is feeling 'homey'..... that's important.
Creatively--my brain has been on fire. I am currently planning an Easter Sunday Menu (Kir Royale, Goat Cheese and Leek Tarte, Ham, Gratin Dauphinois, Harricot Vert, a cheese plate (bien sur!) and for desert; sorbet and macaroons...) I have projects sketched out in my planner, a table to paint and a line up of sewing projects.....
I love my French family and we are finally starting to fall into routines that include Sunday afternoon lunch and going brocante-ing together.... and that's my other love; I realized I absolutely LOVE what I am doing! Finding things at brocantes and fairs, shooting and posting them to sell in hopes that someone will see and love in them what I did!
Although my heart still aches for my friends, who I have been relentlessly badgering to come and visit me in France... I have made new friends both here and out in the world that I wouldn't have if we hadn't moved here.
............. Creating, cooking, writing, enjoying family, loving what I do and finding new friends... a new story? Maybe it's true?
Home is where you story begins.... and this is a pretty good one.
3 comments:
like!!!!
I have just read your blog from the beginning; it has been a wonderful read!
I lived the first 37 years of my life in the Yukon Territory (northern Canada) and had married a man who was not from there. Twenty years and two children later he wanted to leave so we moved to south-eastern British Columbia - not far really, but worlds apart. There is nowhere in Canada at all like the Yukon and it was my home and I loved it. I had to lear new words - what the heck was "hydro", education was different, living in a province is completely different from living in a territory and we were definitely outsiders here. We lasted less than a year and then moved back home for two years. Now we are back in the same town in BC and have been here now for 14 years and it is feeling like home.
I have always had a strong sense of "place" and that post of yours hit home for me - I missed my friends (all my family had long since left the Yukon so that wasn't an issue), but I missed my places more. I missed my sitting rock, my mountain, my after-the-kids-were-in-bed trips to the bookstore.
Now there are things I would miss about here if we left. I realized I would never be open to being happy here until I had "left" there and your blog has brought all of that in to a greater clarity.
Love it!
So nice to meet you.I am over from your friends blog post.I too love french things and have a friend that goes twice a year and brings things home to sell to all of us here in the us.I too hope to go this fall with her.How exciting! I am happy to have found your blog and will visit you often.I think I could live there even though I have never been.My great grandmother was French and my Great Grandfather was Italian.Will be back soon~Cheers Kim
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