Chronicling the experience of a New England Family spending a year living in the Loire Valley of France.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Step Five or the Devil’s in the Details, thus Step Six as well


As you may have noticed, the lines between Step Four through Step Six get a little blurry. Picture a yo-yo dangling off the diving board and you get a pretty good idea of life around here these days.

When we received our first reply from Paul & Sylvie, I was as good as packed in my mind. If it weren’t for the reality check just one look from husband can provide, I would have raced upstairs and started wardrobe planning.

In the first week of correspondence, we gained more and more of a favorable opinion of our match with this family. Ever playing the role of “aloof critic,” David shocked the pants off me by inquiring of his company about working from France for the year. (A sure sign as any that his skeptic act is just that.) His way of informing me was to forward me their email reply which was something to the effect of, “We don’t see why this would be a problem. Keep us abreast of the details and we will work out any arrangements necessary as needed.”

Well, that is definitely when the PANIC hit. I began to think about all the obstacles we have yet to overcome. The finances. How would we afford this? The passports, the visas, the plane tickets, the exchange rate, the higher food and gas prices… Our children. Would we be ruining our children? Traumatizing them for life as we dragged them screaming from the clutches of their close friends. My extrovertedness. Would I fall into depths of depression with no family, no friends, no Kindred Sisters with whom to share life? Global unrest. What if economies start collapsing while we’re there? What if Paris airports are taken over by Muslim terrorists? What if anti-Americanism means we’re treated like criminals? What about this? What about that? What if?

I was fully entrenched in a panic mode of unparalleled proportions when God stepped in and saved the day, as He so often does. But I'll save that story for tomorrow's post.

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