We are back in Paris at last! On the one hand it felt like we'd been gone for ages, and on the other it felt like our visit in the States went too quickly because we really enjoyed ourselves. Many thanks and much love to my family for their hospitality over the entire 11 days. Georges especially enjoyed playing pool with my brother-in-law and his brother, and my niece and nephew. I played once as well but of course I totally suck at it, although Georges is good at coaching me and giving me pointers.
We came home yesterday morning to a dark house: no electricity! Something had tripped the circuit breakers, and this morning we discovered what it was -- our washing machine has sprung a leak, and I guess it shorted out the electricity which is actually a good thing rather than having a fire start! So for the moment we have a non-working washing machine plus a non-working dishwasher (pipe leaking behind it -- we knew about that one before we left for NJ), and a leaking pipe under the kitchen sink which has been that way for a while but which has gotten worse. Is Mercury in retrograde or something, and does it cause plumbing/machinery malfunctions? 'Cuz we've sure got our share right now.
Consequently, I spent an hour or so today at the local laundromat catching up on the laundry. At least it's close by, right on the corner about 40 paces from our building, and on a Monday afternoon it was nearly deserted so I could run three loads of wash at once. We had come home to a spotlessly clean house thanks to our cleaning lady who erased any latent evidence of teenager parties that we are certain occurred in our absence, despite our "no parties!" mandate. Yeah, like THAT was gonna work, right? Because they're teenagers and of COURSE they're going to party when the parents are out of sight. We figure the neighbors will give us the low-down while complaining about the noise level at the same time. Anyway, although the house WAS clean and neat yesterday, it is now back to its usual chaotic state thanks to suitcases, our food shopping delivery and things not being 100% put away, and the mess of wet towels and buckets in the laundry room area which is also our bathroom/pantry/cleaning supplies area. I hate seeing the house in a messy state so soon after coming home, but I'm trying to see it for what it is: temporary.
On the brighter side, the Little Guy is back with us for this last week of his Christmas school break and he arrived at the house to discover that Père Noel had left some goodies for him here, as well as what he already received on Christmas! That Père Noel sure is a nice old guy; he even left extra packets of M&Ms and mini-Nestle's Crunch and Dove Bells for the entire family, in addition to what he left in the kids' stockings under the tree, only he had the foresight to hide them in the kitchen cabinet where we keep all the snack foods. The Little Guy has been enjoying all his new gifts, and we're enjoying his enjoyment! I was so happy to seen him when Georges brought him back... I really missed him while we were gone. He's too cute for words sometimes.
The older kids will migrate back to the house some time over the coming week, and it will be good having them back, too; the oldest is actually skiing with his girlfriend somewhere in the French alps, so we probably won't see him for another week at least, and his 20th birthday is next week! La jolie fille has school holidays this week as well, and I'm guessing she'll come and go with her boyfriend and her friends for the most part. C'est normal around here and probably normal for every family with teenagers; we ought to install a revolving door in place of our front entrance! They'll have gifts waiting for them, too, when they finally decide to put in an appearance. Next year we're hoping to get everyone's Christmas schedule coordinated so we are ALL here together for at least part of the school holidays.
So life is back to "the usual" already, and we're just back a day already... food shopping, faulty plumbing, a cat that can't seem to keep her food down despite wanting to eat ALL THE TIME (also normal for her, I'm afraid) and needing to deal with my French bank which for some reason blocked usage of my debit card while in the US even though it works fine here and it worked fine the last time I was in the States (yeah, we tried calling the bank from New Jersey but of course never did get a straight answer or a call back from anyone).
We're hoping a few friends will decide to drop by and drink some left-over wedding champagne with us on New Year's Eve, because we're planning on staying home and doing exactly that (and we can't drink 18 bottles by ourselves!)
This pretty much sums up the after-math of our holiday and our rentrée to France, other than to say the flight home to Paris was fine, albeit running about an hour late on account of very foggy conditions in NJ, and that yes, I have the usual crippling jet lag to get past.
I also have a lot that I am grateful for, when I think back over the past year and how much my life has grown, expanded and changed all in 12 short months' time. A year ago today, I was still in NJ on holiday without Georges and missing him like crazy; my grandmother had just died at the age of 95 and I was planning her funeral to take place just before I left for France again; and I had told my family I would most likely be getting married in the coming year because Georges was the One. And even though I'd only been with him for two months, the writing had been on the wall from the beginning and as far as I was concerned, that was that and everything else was just a matter of time and taking things as they came.
Now here I am: a wife, a step-mother, a resident of la belle France, and of course, still a writer with a lot of big ideas who also needs a big push now and again to make them happen (same old story there). My washing machine and dishwasher may be on the fritz, my banks (on both sides of the ocean) may be driving me crazy, but that's just about the "stuff". And the stuff will work itself out eventually.
What matters is the love and the life we have built together, me and Georges. We're still evolving as a family, I'm still getting adjusted to the language and culture, and the kids and I are still getting to know each other better, and all of those things will continue to take time. Yet at the core is love. Unconditional, beautiful, abundant, radiant, profound, bold LOVE.
Can you think of a better way to end the old year and start the new? I can't.
