It's funny, well, not funny "ha ha", but the other kind- when we moved almost exactly to the other side of the planet, Fred thought that we would just simply "move". That it would be the simplest of things and we would just have a new life and that was it.
Well...what was good that did happen, was that Tristam is having such and a life changing experience and he was probably the number one reason why we moved when we did. Last night we were at a friend's home just down the path here with other friends and Tristam had his 2 best friends there- Matteo and Matilde. Matteo has lived all over the world and speaks 2 languages and Matilde the same- and the parents were all carrying on in French and our kid understood what they were saying- he couldn't formulate his response in French, but he definitely understood. It makes me think of me when I was a kid and my parents were expats and us girls spoke French at school and with our friends, German with out mom and English with our dad. We were children of the world too then...
This weekend we also went o a baby shower for the loveliest people- our friends Jerome and Carole. We were there with another neighbor and only French was spoken. Little baby Liam will be another international child - French father, Mauritian mother- growing up in a fast changing world with many languages spoken around him- and he will be a lucky kid-
In recent weeks, I have been struggling a bit. Being in Africa, we are removed from familiar surroundings. I have missed the smell of the Pacific in our Central Coast home. I have missed hot yoga with my friends ( we are now working on jerry-rigging a clothes iron and fan combo to heat up a room in our rental here so I can do Bikram). I so missed my critique group where I could read and hear educated feedback from my book peeps. I missed sushi and sauerkraut and kale and our neighbors and riding my bike and and and....on and on...but the thing is that I was missing the BIG picture...
That these few months are just a few months in the whole of our lives and they are an amazing opportunity to try things differently. Most people when they hit middle-age, either settle into whatever they are doing with either resignation (they are getting tired and whatever they are doing is "as good as it's going to get"...dreams passed them by- that sort of thing) or they are happy with where they are at and proceed along or they reinvent and push the envelope with this idea that life IS short and while you are here, what are you going to experience and what are you going to contribute. We chose the latter. And because Fred and I have such a strong friendship- we don't mind stepping into other world apart from one another for a month or two or three to accomplish some our own personal goals- which is the next thing- he is launching his project and I am heading back to our home to launch a few of my own :) Then rendezvous in Mauritius before heading out again. Life is good.
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