Franglo

As I start the next chapter of my life, it’s a bit like walking into the forest, you are not sure exactly what you are going to find but you know you will be amazed. As a BC girl whenever I need to centre myself, I head to the woods to find calm and inner peace. 

The last few weeks have been a little bit insane, in this Franglo’s world.  This will be the first weekend where I am not rushing back to Toronto on the weekend to wrap up my life in Ontario. My immigration to Quebec is not fully complete but over the past two weeks I was able to get my condo ready for rental which involved a lot of manual labour. I handed off the keys tenant last Sunday and made the final journey back to Montreal with my other half to make Quebec my home.

The past few weeks have been very emotional for me and adjusting to my new life has been a bit challenging.  In Toronto I lived the life of a corporate woman in a long-distance relationship. This meant I had a ton of free time to myself. I was able to watch my programs, go out with my friends and put in all the hours I needed to a work without being accountable to anyone else.  I found myself randomly breaking into tears on Sunday at this chapter had ended and the finality of my move to Montreal had just become real. I can no longer call up my girlfriend and go for a drink, or enjoy a class of wine while watching  TV programs no straight man is ever going to watch.  My poor other half dealt with it well and encourage me to let go of the emotions while handing me tissues.

My new life has officially begun, one where I am a life partner, co-parent to three lovely kids living in a city where English is not the first language. I am on contract with my currently employer until the end of the year, so added to the stress of relocation is determining what I am going to do come December 31^st.  We are planning our life together with a few question marks as to what things look like in 6 months, so I am hesitant to commit to any new projects that would make our life easier like renovating the closet to fit my stuff.  I am at a loss for words why a contractor would build a closet with only half of it accessible and the other half behind a wall where you can not actually see what is in your closet. Oh Mon Dieu!

The stress of the last few weeks has made my body very angry with me. On my partner’s advice I went and saw an Osteopath this week to try and release some of the tension in my back and neck which has been causing headaches. I am back in Toronto the last week of August and have scheduled a visit with my chiropractor, but I knew I could not survive in my current state for another 4-5 weeks. He did the best he could, but my body was being stubborn and would not fully release. Stress is an interesting beast, it has manifested itself in total exhaustion, nausea and headaches. I managed to make it to class on Tuesday night but left early because I really was not feeling well and missed last nights class as well. Something is wrong when you are going to bed before the kids at 8 pm.

We have had the kids with us since Monday as my partner is off for two weeks. Getting use to having a houseful of people has been challenging and rewarding.  There are moments when their personalities shine through and they are wonderful little humans and there are other moments when they are being typical tweens. This weeks I was still working on Monday to Thursday; it’s hard to concentrate amongst the chaos of having them around; the noise level has been high this week. The noise is not intentional it’s just kids being kids. Luckily, he had activities planned for most of the days, so I only had to endure a few hours before they were gone for the day.

Today starts our family vacation, we are heading to Quebec City for the days and then doing a stay-cation with trips to theme parks, water parks and local attractions planned. French immersion week has started, wish me luck.