The weirdness
The initial 6-month phase is behind and we could say that we are now back to some kind of steady state. But not really. This is weird, really weird.
Let's dig a bit
This is just the end of phase 1 : the logistic phase
These first 6 months have been quite hechtic with a lot of changes. We litteraly have blown off our routine : new jobs, new house, remote kid, commute and a summer in Paris. We had intentionnally decided to take things in a positive manner and to not think much. Somehow, it turned out fairly great without major issue. Now that this is behind, we should be back to normal and I should feel all good except that I feel weird.
What is happening is that there is a gap between our previous normal life and our new potential normal life. Our friends, the kid's friends, the school events, our week end activities, the barbecues, the events themselves, the holidays, the trips, the social activities, the business trips, the language and one main project keeping us busy - going back to France, finding jobs and figuring out this transition : this normal has changed. So, no, we are never going back to this normal. We need to define our new normal. Outch, we forgot that on the plan.
Entering phase 2 : the social adjustment
We live now in a big city, our friends are far, they plan dinners, week end week sin advance, the jobs are demanding, the kid has to make new friends, no barbecue, no business trip, no social life in place, we don't know the events, we speak french all the time, the family is closer, most of the people are french. Our past normal does not translate, this is as simple as that.
We have to readjust our calendar, our social activities, our vacation routine and overall build some new personal projects. No big of a deal, in the end this is not that weird, phase 1 has been a bit exhausting and it was not the right time for more thinking. Guess what, I have a good news : there are 2 weeks of school vacation is the kid is out at the grand parents :). Perfect time to think and plan more than logistics. See, I finally found a sense to these 2 weeks of school vacation not even 2 months into the school year. Thanks french school cheese like calendar !
So based on that
I had written a few posts back that we had turn the page, I guess this is time to start writting now. Bye weirdness, welcome next chapter.