Life after the dream

I didn't know how much I had wanted the dream until we took the decision to move to the UK. I feel that I have gone through a period of grieving. For something that will now never be - our family growing up in the beautiful countryside of France, bi-lingual. The long summer evenings living outside and drinking good wine.

However, we were not prepared to gamble on the education. Being bi-lingual would be an amazing skill but not at the expense of all the other attributes and skills that learning should bring. Even after only 3 months the boys have a good level of French and using a private tutor back in the UK will hopefully build on this knowledge and give them the chance to be as fluent as possible. As for the boys, now they know they are going to the UK they are more relaxed with their language and improving even faster.

A comment that my youngest made when we told them brought home how two people can look at things so differently. For me I am going back, even the very phrase sounds negative. I know about the traffic, the poorer climate compared to France, I lived there for 30 years. However, for my little ones they cannot remember ever living there. It was always only a holiday destination. My youngest said that he was excited to be going to live in England because he had never lived there before and didn't know it. I realised that showing them the country whose passport they hold will be exciting. And actually as I have not been there for 6 years we will all be like strangers, discovering the culture and customs all over again. So we are going to be tourists, learning the heritage and history of the land they call England.

The list of things "To Do" is shorter than last time but still quite meaty. A lot is done, cats have their passports, tunnel booking is changed, landlord notified. Just a simple thing of squeezing our stuff into one estate car and roofbox. As my husband doesn't arrive back till the day before we leave at 6 am we have decided to err on the side of caution and buy a trailer to ensure that it will all fit in! One of the major things on the "To Do" list is to find a house in a catchment area of a good school with spaces for the boys within commuting distance of my husband's work. Unfortunately it is proving to be moveable jigsaw puzzle that refuses to be finished. I fear that I may yet be home schooling the boys. We have another 3 weeks to find a place so fingers crossed!