It has been ONE year since moving to France!! Crazy eh?!
Well today is October 23, 2011, and I technically left the comforts of Canada on October 23, 2010, arriving in France during the early morning hours of October 24. With the time change, ocean currents and boundless skies, I think I can safely avow that I have lived in France for a full year!
Yesterday in nostalgic glee I approached a woman in the grocery store wearing a Roots sweater with a Canadian flag on the shoulder; and in mixed French and English excitedly asked if she was from Canada. Unfortunately she was not Canadian, but had received the sweater as a gift from family living in Montreal. I did however feel a swelling sense of pride for my home country coupled with a comical association with my new one that continues to abound with amplified opportunities.
As I think about the past year I have no regrets and while challenging and often difficult it has been a journey well travelled, complete with paths of stubborn stagnation, foraged identity, new avenues and relaxed restlessness. While I am fairly certain that France is not a forever home; a realization sensed early on; I am also not devoted to returning to Canada any time soon; despite my love and longing for home and relationships. Instead I sway through various degrees of comfort and patience at the limitless opportunities and avenues that await and beckon. Who knows where I, or we, will be in another year’s time? Maybe Canada, maybe France, maybe…
Some lessons and experiences over this year were felt and anticipated with pre-prediction, like the loneliness that flooded in following a summer of incredible journeys, or the crunch of living in the financial moment with sinking resources, limited earnings and tons of travel. While others appeared with calmed clarity (France is a necessary journey), nagging persistence (where to go from here?), or cycling awareness (how to strike a balance between action and faith).
While I can humbly affirm that there is much I do not know, and that in essence I remain the same in appearance and character, I am immersed with a sense of greater contentment and acceptance of life’s unfolding mysteries; with increased faith and trust that each experience is full of opportunity, learning and reflective silver lining J
Bon anniversaire :-)
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