A Year and A Day

Today is August 22, 2013.  This time 366 days ago, we had just arrived in France.  A bit overwhelmed and a lot tired, we muddled through greeting the landlady and signing leases and contracts that we didn't exactly understand.  We wandered around our new little abode and tried to figure out who should sleep where.  We welcomed a new friend, Claudia, who showed up at our house with a homemade lasagna.  And our minds were swimming with thoughts of all the teary good-byes, all the hectic travel plans, all the uncertainties still to come.

But today is not that day.  Today, our house is home.  We know where the grocery stores are, and we know how to navigate the bus system.  We (mostly) understand all the paperwork we are obligated to fill out, we can talk easily with our landlady, and we know where to go for a picnic.  Each of us has had a birthday here in France, and we have cycled through all the seasons.  It seems normal now to not have air conditioning, to walk everywhere, to function in euros instead of dollars.   We have slowly but surely made peace with the fact that we are outsiders here:  outside of the language, outside of the culture, outside of the common knowledge of how society works.

We have had to change.  In a sense, we are growing up all over again.  Back to the beginning, learning how to carry on a conversation with people, learning how to ask simple questions, learning how to understand the meanings behind the spoken words.  Like any growth process, it can be painful.  The more you learn, the more you realize you have yet to learn.

Today is August 22, 2013.   Kaelyn is practicing photography on the unsuspecting plants and flowers in the yard, Lydia is carefully drawing in her sketchbook at the table outside, Carson and Joya are constructing an automobile factory out of Legos.  Peace and tranquility are in abundance.  Is this the same family that was so full of worry and concern one year ago?  As I survey the scene around me, I can say, "Yes.  Yes we are that same family.  We've just done a bit of growing this year, that's all."