Andy Smallman

July 31, 2011

So we’ve been back home for three full days now. I think we’d be an interesting case study for researchers wanting to study human reactions to returning to a very familiar place after many months away. I’ve had a short email exchange with Christine, to whom I put it this way, “It’s very interesting for us to fall so quickly back into the familiar. I find this both settling and unsettling. On one hand, it’s like snuggling with your favorite blanket, one that was put away for some time and now you have back. On the other hand, it makes our year in France feel distant. Standing in the frozen food section of the grocery store (that’s open all day, every day), I didn’t have to try very hard to imagine that France was all a dream or that we hadn’t left yet. It was disconcerting.”

It’s reassuring, too. I mean I know I’m home and I love being home. Everything is so familiar I could walk through the house blindfolded and find my way around. An example of this is in how I walk down the stairs. I always reach for a certain place for support and was surprised, pleasantly, to find myself doing it the first time I came down the stairs. It’s the same for moving about the kitchen, or looking for something in the bathroom. I don’t have to think about it. I just do it.

Switching gears, Melinda and I head in to PSCS tomorrow, the first time there in 13 months. Unto itself that’s an odd feeling. But I have a hunch it won’t take long to kick things into gear. After all, it’s pretty darn familiar.

Oh, today’s picture, a self-portrait, is me in front of our front door. A year ago today, we moved in to our Nantes house and made cheeseburgers for the Boudeaus…
Day 31 (31 July 2010) – Move in Day

July 30, 2011

Last fall, the Boudeaus, Melinda & I talked about the possibility of Romain coming with us to spend several weeks in Seattle when we returned. Not only would he get to practice his English, we’d see about setting it up so he could see some Seattle area businesses in operation. You see, Romain is studying economics in school. He is at a high level, what is called “Prépa” in France. Hooking him up with people we know who work at Microsoft, Amazon, and Boeing would provide him with some incredible learning opportunities. Most significant of these, my brother Scott, a financial advisor/stockbroker of some repute, early on greed to allow Romain to shadow him for several mornings.

As our departure date from France grew nearer, Melinda and I started to realize that having Romain with us would provide our family something that’s a little hard to explain. His presence would literally bring back a human piece of France in our home and keep Melinda, Chloe, Ella & me from mindlessly falling back into our Seattle routines. With him, we’d speak more French, be able to show off our Seattle lives, and otherwise have a Nantes connection. He would be tangible evidence that our year in France was not a dream.

His presence has so far been even more significant that we first imagined.

I’m late posting tonight because we just got back from a late dinner at my brother’s house. That’s Romain with Scott and Sally, Scott’s partner. Also in the picture, two bottles of wine, thank you gifts from the Boudeaus to Scott. Not pictured, Romain’s new Seattle Mariners t-shirt that he picked up at today’s game.

July 29, 2011

When I was a little kid and my family was on our way home from a vacation, I’d have this crazy image pop into my head. We’d be in the car, having driven for hours, and be nearing the house. I could hardly wait to turn the corner onto our street, sure that the neighbors would have put up signs welcoming us home. They might even be out in their yards, smiling and waving as we drove past.

So imagine my pleasure yesterday when we got home and found this poster up in our Seattle house.

Yes, we are safe and snug back home. Time-wise, from the point leaving the Boudeaus on Thursday morning at 5am (Nantes time) to walking inside our house just before 8pm (Seattle time), we had been traveling for 24 straight hours. With the 9 hour time difference factored in, our Thursday lasted 33 hours.

Graphically, it felt like someone had taken both ends of the day and pulled on them, just like you’d do with some Silly Putty. It got long and thin, and even cracked in a few places. But overall it stayed together.

Note, I am going to continue to post daily here on the blog, sharing about our transition back to Seattle. Look for that to begin tomorrow.

A year ago today we were on the beach at Pornichet…
Day 29 (29 July 2010) – Yes, We Have Children

Oh, by the way, it never happened. None of our neighbors ever put up a sign.

July 28, 2011

(Note, I created this post in advance and scheduled it to be delivered at 6pm in Nantes, 9am in Seattle. If we are on schedule, we just landed in Reykjavík and will be taking off for Seattle in an hour, a nearly 8 hour flight still in front of us.)

In honor of our return to Seattle today, I thought I’d try something new. I’ve picked four of my favorite posts over the last year and want to encourage you, my beloved blog readers (I’m not saying which is beloved, the blog or the readers) to vote on YOUR favorite from these four: Day 12, Day 121, Day 192, Day 307 (click on the “day” to see each candidate, but vote on one below).

Great photo here, don’t you think? It caps the trilogy of photos and posts from the last three days intended to salute the French families we feel have become part of ours.

Speaking of favorite blog posts, I just don’t seem to get tired reviewing the one from this day last year (or at least looking at the picture)…
Day 28 (28 July 2010) – Cheese For Dessert

July 27, 2011

So yesterday I mentioned the family photo shoot Melinda, Chloe, Ella and I like to do each year. I said we choose the photo we like best and enlarge & frame it, and put it up in our home. We followed the tradition this year in Nantes; in fact, you can see this year’s photo in this post from Day 105, our 100th day in France.

Today’s blog picture comes from our recent photo shoot with the Boudeau family. If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time, you know it was the Boudeaus whose presence in Nantes inspired us to move here. It was the Boudeaus who found our house for us, negotiated with our landlord, found Ella’s school, helped us with our French bank account, etc, etc. Today Frédérique helped us again with our French bank and helped get us checked out of our house. In short, I can’t imagine what our sabbatical would have been like without them.

On our last full day in Nantes, the day we move out of our house (we’re spending the night at the Boudeau’s house tonight and then being taken by them to the train station at 5am tomorrow), I salute the Boudeaus, now permanently part of OUR family.

And speaking of the Boudeaus, on this day last year I wrote about the sexiness of French fire hydrants, an observation of mine that Laurent frequently references…
Day 27 (27 July 2010) – Ma Chérie, Bouche d’incendie

July 26, 2011

Last August, soon after we moved in to our Nantes house, we staged a “photo shoot” for the four of us on the back patio and got this picture. This is something we like to do a few times each year, hoping to capture what we call our “album cover” portrait. Each year we choose our favorite of these pictures, have it blown up big, frame it, and put it up in our house. I referenced this once in a post on the Kind Living blog.

This month, before leaving, we wanted to replicate that August photo shoot but this time include the members of our “French family,” getting photos that include us with the Bertails and others that include us with the Boudeaus. I’ve chosen to feature pictures from those “shoots” today and tomorrow, our last two full days in France, to honor and express our appreciation for these families.

Today’s photo features the Bertails. Meeting them has been one of those experiences that demonstrate one is on the right path. The kindness of their entire family, from Bernard’s stately presence to Claire’s bubbly smile, has been a gift to us of enormous proportions. We are proud to count the Bertails as part of OUR family.

On subject of families, a year ago today I wrote about how Melinda and I were neglecting our children. Hmmm…
Day 26 (26 July 2010) – Oysters at the Pornichet Market