Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

Look at that date- 12 July.  Its our 4 year anniversary here in France.

Naturally, I want to wax lyrical about what we have achieved in 4 years, or not achieved, perhaps, or to reflect on what we have learnt, but I am not quite ready to chatter about moody reflections right now.

However, there is something that is more noticeable this month that I DO want to say.  It’s the month of The Leaving.

Yesterday when I cycled home, on ONE stretch of road, there were 5 removal vans blocking traffic, which brought home the fact that we have 3 sets of friends who leave Strasbourg in the next 3 weeks.  That’s 3 families- 6 adults, 6 children. 12 friendships.

I think back to October 2013 when I wrote one of my first blogs, lamenting how much I missed my dear friends back home, while at the same time, looking forward to making some new friends.  Today I sit here lamenting the many dear friends who are about to move on.

There have been some official farewell parties, there have been formal speeches, and then there has been me going through my days quite incapable of being able to express enough words and sentiment to say how grateful I am to have been able to know you, what a difference you have made in our lives here in Strasbourg.

To the English Hepburns, who we met through the most awesome Tash and her (well, we can all do it) inescapable skill of simply overhearing a volley of English across l’Orangerie, the girls and I spent a fabulous summer of 2014 and also 2015 at the public pools, where not only did we discover my youngest is brazen in the water, but that you have to tie up your hair if you’re in the pools, that wasps like fruit and picnic baskets in general, and that the best time to be at Wacken is to have staked out your picnic spot on the grass by 10am.

We discovered Mrs H’s baking skills, her shopping skills (I have a hunch that she is still largely confused at my ‘day wear’ restrictions when it came to helping me kit out my wardrobe), and her ability to make anybody feel welcome in her home with a box of craft activities, a cup of English tea or several bottles of Gorgeous French Bubbles. It’s been an easy friendship of no judgement and kind support, especially in the months leading up to and after Mums passing. B, your generosity in gifts and treats is only surpassed by your generosity in time, your energy and kindness. We may not chat like we used to, but I will never forget the many occasions we’ve spent together. Thank you for inspiring me when I just had no mental energy.

 

Thanks to Ian for his unwavering patience. And thanks to a collective group of all our children in some lessons learned that need not be mentioned here 😋. Good luck to your boys in their new schools, and to you as you re-establish new routines and find yourself a new niche.

 

To the Savages, a delightful new friendship, which we are sad that we can’t build on as much as we would like. Your presence at the cricket club will be sorely missed, having you at our dinner table even more so- you know how much I relish being able to entertain, cook, and chat about food. I love what we have in common that makes our times spent together so great. I appreciate your outlook on how to tackle life and we wish you every bit of happiness and success back in Helsinki. I really do hope that we can make the idea of a Scandinavian  road trip next summer a reality. And I promise, T- I will make sure we load as many cases of Crémant in our car as possible, because I know how much you’ll miss it ;-). I’m sure Alex and Beth can be persuaded to write letters to Henrick so that he knows he has more English speaking friends than others in his class.

 

To our Belgian friends, who we obtained purely through our Beth- I’m not certain I would have had the luxury of this friendship if it hadn’t been for Beth grasping hold of the one English speaking blonde haired blue eyed girl in her first year at school. I do have this tiny faint hope that their friendship was also borne from the fact that Tess may have spoken a little Dutch which Beth may- or may not have?- picked up on, but regardless, she was invited to her Tess’ birthday party in the darkness of winter 2014. She was too young to drop and leave so I hung around keeping an eye on her and started a gentle friendship with this remarkable family, with whom we seem to have much in common. I love their patience and their family values.   Most especially, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning so many new things- I am very far from becoming an organic mom, but  now I have a much greater appreciation for this lifestyle. Nathalie has become a quiet confidante whose own adulthood journey makes her a welcome empathetic ear- I am not sure I ever got round to telling her how much I appreciated it, so thanks N!

Nathalie and Mattias, we will miss your special Belgian beers, your amazing waffles, being able to reap fruit from your garden, seeing you scooting around the cycle paths on your Bakfiets and waving a greeting,  but I will be sure to follow your artistic side on Instagram ;-).  And mostly- aside from missing you- we will miss your lovely children too.  I live in trepidation for rentree 2017 when Beth has to return to school, and her beloved Tess isn’t there ;-(.

Good luck in your country of origon, even if you’ll probably feel like a fish out of water for a little while, we’ll be thinking of you, and hope that having French resident cards means we can at least visit you with a little more frequency- maybe we will send our Beth to holiday with you?  And Alex too- I’m sure she would relish babysitting Fleur (and maybe Illja’s desire to read and learn of all things non-fiction might rub off a little?)

To you all, thank you for enriching our lives as you have over the last 4 years (give or take a month of 6).  Without you in it, life would have been most definitely very different.  Stay in touch- you know where to find us!  God Bless, may the wind continue to be at your back, and take care.  We will miss you immensely.

In finishing today, thank you to Anton, Alex and Beth for the last 4 years here in France.  May we continue to challenge each other and grow from what we have learnt, and cheers folks, to the next year or 5.

Cheers for today,

Lots of love,

Moi.