I am sitting here on a hot and humid Sunday après-midi, still at my sister's home in New Jersey. I'm feeling reflective today. I just woke up from taking a very exhausted nap, having spent the morning going through about 500 (or at least it felt like that many) boxes of my belongings. We moved them from the paid storage unit into my mother's garage and basement on Thursday with the help of Georges' daughter and my nephew (check another item off my big to-do list, woo-hoo!) Our task today was to decide what I will sell next weekend in a big moving/yard sale, and what I will either stuff into some luggage on this trip back to Paris, or ship over later in the year.
As I type this, my husband (yep, it just never gets old, saying that) is sleeping beside me, still in sieste-mode. He is making the most of his last day of vacation for the moment. He goes back to Paris tomorrow, for work, while I will stay behind and wrap things up here with my new step-daughter (I love saying THAT, too) for company. What a wonderful (and tiring) two weeks it has been for us here: our beautiful wedding, a lovely two-day mini-honeymoon, many errands and tasks to take care of, several trips into New York and to the beach, shopping, movies, introducing my French family to some of my favorite spots in NJ, and spending time with my family and friends.
It has been a very busy week since we got back from the honeymoon. We picked up the marriage license, the town clerk been very flexible in processing it extra-quickly for us. My drivers license and bank accounts now boast my new legal name. We took our marriage license into the French consulate to get the marriage registered legally in France so that I can get the last two documents I need for my permanent residency papers as Georges' spouse, and that went well. I got my things out of storage (one less bill to pay here). I even managed to close out my late grandmother's estate. And we got in some fun stuff as well: a half-day to roam around New York with la fille and my niece, a full day at the beach with my best friend and her family, and even a day in quirky New Hope, PA, where I literally bought a pair of rose-colored glasses.
Je vois la vie en rose right now. Definitely. Love is just like that.
It's not all done yet, the list of things I need to do here. I still have thank-you notes to write and mail (and no cheating by using e-mail, either; I'm writing them long-hand). A yard sale to organize and execute. More name change notifications to take care of. A little more shopping to do. Friends to visit. And a teenage girl to entertain (because this is her vacation, too, after all).
But now that I am anticipating Georges going back to Paris tomorrow, I can feel my energy shifting back to Paris, too. As much as I love spending time with people here, and we have had such an incredible few weeks together, I am eager to go HOME, and be with mon mari in our life together in France. (Yeah, I like saying it in French, too.)
So after Georges leaves, I'll have ten more days here to take care of things in my old life... before I can really jump in with both feet into the new. The biggest, boldest leap I've made yet.
Maybe that's why some people jump over a broom when they get married. To symbolize that leap into the future. A future filled with love.
