Moving to France
Episode 6: Married bliss? And a strawberry pie.
The other day, someone told me that two of the most challenging things in life are moving house and getting a divorce. After 26 years of living in the Netherlands, I’m getting ready to do the first all over again, and after 25 years of marriage (today!), I think it’s safe to say the second will never happen. Let’s be honest though; we had some rough moments last week. Frustration. Misunderstandings. Impatience. Tears. It wasn’t pretty.
Way back in October of 1997, I was a 19-year-old girl in love who didn’t think twice, packed up her life in two suitcases and flew to the Netherlands. Those first months went by in a blur. With the exception of not speaking the language and the culture shock of moving from Hudson County, New Jersey (where NYC was my sprawling backyard), to the depths of rural, cow-studded, windmill-dotted Drenthe, I can’t really say I experienced even a fraction of the stress taking a hold of me now. A flood of emotions that sometimes results in stupid arguments and a lot of wasted time.
August 19th, 1998
In those days, I wasn’t worried about whether or not I would get a residence permit, finish school (I had just started my second year of college when I left), find a house, get a job or learn the language. Life simply ran its course, and I (we) took things as they came.