Dreaming of France -- Prepping for A France Move

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Today, the sky is the clearest blue, like an imagined dream that filled the sky.
As Earl and I rode our bikes to the coffee shop, I looked up and saw the white silhouette of an airplane stark against the sky.
We both thought the same thing: We should be on that plane on our way to France.
Maybe soon.
The newspaper will be laying off people in the next 60 days. We hope Earl isn't on that list, but if he is, we'll move in December since I have a full load of classes this fall.
If he keeps his job, we'll wait until next August when Spencer finishes college and is hopefully employed.
We'll feel so much better if our children have jobs and apartments.
One thing that we have accomplished, in addition to cleaning up my desk, is to make sure all of the kids have reliable cars.
Our family of five has survived with two cars. As each child got their driver's license, we resisted buying an extra car. And it worked out as Grace headed off to college in Upstate New York, and then Spencer went to school in Florida. The kid left at home got to drive the second car, and most of the time Earl takes the bus to work.
When I have morning classes, I drop Earl at work since we both go downtown Columbus. Many times I suggest that Earl should take the car to work, but he doesn't want to pay for parking.
As Tucker moved home, and Grace moved back in after college, we knew the time had come to increase the number of cars. Both Grace and Tucker needed cars to get to work.
Luckily, Grace bought her own car. We talked about used cars; we considered a lease, but Grace dived right into buying a new car. An adorable Fiat.

Spencer spent the summer at college in Athens, Ohio. We let him take our second car, a Volkswagen Passat. He has been searching for a job and being a delivery person might be in the cards for him once the college students head back to school this month.

For Tucker, we started off buying a Chevrolet Suburban that he could use for his landscaping business. Then a few days later, he quit landscaping and got a job delivering sandwiches for Jimmy Johns. That behemoth vehicle was definitely the wrong car for delivering.
So  we dug deep and bought a 2002 Subaru Outback. The gas mileage is much better and he can get into tight spaces quickly.

We didn't notice until they were purchased that all three of our children have green cars. 

We can check buying cars off our list of things to do now. All of the kids have cars. Earl and I are sharing a car, and we won't worry about getting any more until we move to France.
Grace moves into an apartment at the end of the month and just this morning we sat in the dining room peering into the living room and deciding who would get which pieces of furniture when we left for France.
Of course, Grace was the only child there, so she claimed most of the items. It's strange to think of moving and leaving most of our possessions behind.
For those of you who have moved to another country, a country across the sea, what do you think I need to bring with me?
I think it's different going from the U.K. to France because you can load your car and go through the Chunnel.
Other than clothes and pictures and some books, what must I be certain to take along?
Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave a comment and visit each other's blogs, too, so you can get your fix of France dreams.

Emotional Eating

My husband was going to the store for the second time yesterday in preparation for some evening guests when I asked him to bring home some cookies. Those chocolate kind with the marshmallow inside.
He didn't point out that I had been eating healthy for a couple of weeks sticking to fruits, vegetables and proteins. He just bought the cookies.
I guess I'm an emotional eater because a few hours of sorting things in my daughter's room, counting the days -- 3 -- before she leaves for college, made me crave cookies.
I ate two when he returned and got back to the business of helping her pack her clothes.
People keep asking how I am with the move to college. I don't have a choice. My role in this is to be positive and upbeat and to eat an occasional cookie.
Grace has taken the emotional road. She cries. She lays her head in my lap when I am sitting on the couch. She hugs me whenever we are within a foot of each other. She holds my hand as we walk through the store to look for new clothes.
She chose the college 10 hours away when she originally protested going away at all.
Now she says, "I don't think I can go."
The tuition has been paid. The classes scheduled. The roommate is waiting.
My only role is to be supportive. I can show no chink in the armor.
"You can do this" is my mantra.
Now her belongings are stacked in bins.
Earl has repainted and reconstructed the window seat that Grace sat on during the play Little Women last year. She will take that with her as a bridge between her high school years and this new independent section of life. She has filled the window seat with her bedspread and mattress cover still in plastic wrapping. Within it are sets of sheets and matching towels never used.
And I can't think about that moment when we pull away from the college and she isn't in the car, when it's no longer my job to put on a brave face.