Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Final Year

One year from tomorrow, my husband and I will have packed up and sold our house. We will have limited our lives to four large suitcases, and we will be leaving to live in France.
One year!
I can't write this post tomorrow because I committed to a post for FranceBookTours, so instead I'm writing it today.
Why did we choose May 20? It's the week after Mother's Day. It's the end of the semester for school, and at least two of our children will be graduated from college.
Whoever took our picture, cut off the top of the Eiffel Tower!
I'm so fortunate that my husband bought into my France dream.

I've dragged him to France numerous times, and he even went once without me when depositing Grace in France. (She hates to fly.)
This was our first trip to France together. I think my husband
has a shirt tied around his waist, rather than really high pants.

We plan to spend a few days in Paris before we take a train to the South of France. We'll rent a house for three or four months while we determine which village we want to live in.
Here we are on a windy day in front of Versailles. 
I picture us riding our bicycles or the taking the train or a rental car to various villages on market day to get a feel for each one. When we figure out where we want to move, we'll start looking for a house.
Here we are on our bike trip in front of the Pont du Gard. 

By September, I hope we'll be in a French home of our own.

This was us in a Moroccan restaurant. The building is ancient. 
And, of course, I plan to take all of you along with us, and to share the ups and the downs of moving to a new country.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. When I moved, it was for a two-year stint with my employer--I never expected to stay. One thing led to another. It is very brave to decide to move permanently from the outset.
I hope we'll meet when you're in the south!

Jackie McGuinness said...

I am so excited for you and can't wait to follow your journey.

Terra said...

I look forward to "moving" with you. I recently read an expat memoir by a lady to moved to France and she even managed to become a French citizen.

Patricia said...

There's nothing better than following a dream. How exciting to read your plans. Bonne continuation!

our life in france said...

How excited you must be and a year seems a long time but trust me it will go quickly, we decided in November and moved in January but we did already have our home

Jeanie said...

Paulita, that's so exciting. This year is just going to fly by for you -- you'll hardly be ready when the time comes, yet you will have been ready all your life! What an exciting year this one will be! Very happy for you!

Paulita said...

Thanks to everyone for your comments and support. We are so excited. Started clearing things out today. It will definitely take a year to clean everything.

grammajudyb said...

I am so excited to follow along with you and your husband, as you take on this next part of your life. I will live vicariously through you.

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