In what way is THIS a good idea?!?

Edgar had to fit. Charlotte was inconsolable. Edgar had become her favourite. How could we disappoint her? It was not her choice to make this move. The giant stuffed bear had to come with us to Quebec.

This was our challenge as we packed up our lives to move to Quebec for a year: How to fit all of our clothes and personal items into our newly purchased “Skybox” which rested encouragingly open-jawed on the roof of our car? It was strangely satisfying to stuff pants, tops, coats, et cetera, into garbage bags. But as Neil placed each bag into the gaping jaws, it began to seem less and less likely that everything would fit… particularly not the bear who sat nearby, ever hopeful, wearing his colourful traveling overalls. (OK, it was a plastic bag.)

Alright, I can’t draw out the suspense any longer… Yes, the bear fit! Edgar joined us for our cross-country journey, perched high on top of…  (No, not the roof rack! How could you think that?) …our camping gear which filled our back seat and trunk. And yes, Charlotte was ecstatic!!! (Big hugs for Daddy)

And now, we are here! We imagined it, and now it is real. Sometimes life can seem very complicated, and sometimes we just make it that way. At least, this is how I am. I can spend hours agonising over a small decision because it seems important (though it likely isn’t.) But when presented with making a big decision about moving our family to Quebec for a year, I listened to my gut and just jumped in! I didn’t allow myself to consider all the fine details. I knew that would just lead to inaction and the idea would get stuck, mired in a mud-pit of fear and “what ifs” like so many other possibilities in my life. I didn’t want that to happen this time. I was ready for a big change!

Okay, so now I’m getting a bit “deep”. I want to say upfront that this is how I imagine this blog will be…part travel stories and part self-reflection. I believe that this is the only way that I can hope to truly get the most out of my year in Quebec. Some who are reading this, may not be so interested in this part of our experience, and so I encourage you to just enjoy the pictures; but for those who might be interested in reading about both my outer and inner journey, I hope that you might find something that touches and inspires you in this online journal. For those of you who are still with me…  Allons-y!

Not surprisingly, we have been asked repeatedly, “Why did you decide to move to Quebec?” And there are so many answers to this question. Firstly, I want to say that it was my idea. Not that Neil required much persuading since we had discussed living abroad SOMEWHERE for a few years, but nothing had ever come together. In truth I was growing impatient for a change. But it wasn’t the kind of restlessness that demanded immediate attention, rather it was the kind that lay dormant, cloaked in daily “busy-ness”, waiting to be acknowledged. It was as if my life was “idling” (like a car); I was ready to go but nothing was happening… I had no destination. And when life is essentially good -- great job doing something I love, great home in a great community, great family and friends – it’s hard to complain. So I didn’t. But something was missing...

Again the question… “Why move to Quebec?” A simple answer is because we met a wonderful family from Granby, Quebec, who had moved their family to Vancouver for a year. Their daughter, Marie-Neige, and Charlotte became best friends in school; and we were inspired by how rapidly Marie-Neige became bilingual. But I was also inspired by the family’s decision to embark on their cross-cultural adventure… they wanted to experience life in another place; they had a dream to come to Vancouver and they acted on it. Pascal and Josee acknowledged that it was hard at times, especially in the beginning, but in the end it was worth it. It was over dinner at their apartment in mid-June that they enthused about their Vancouver experience. I could feel myself being drawn in… falling under the “magical spell of possibility”. This family had a glow about them that I wanted for myself. I can’t be sure because I didn’t have a mirror, but I imagine that my eyes were wide and that there was a silly grin on my face.

 

The truth is that I have always been drawn to people from somewhere else (perhaps this is why I studied International Relations in university, and worked for years with international students.) Neil & I have travelled a lot; it was nine years ago that we dropped out of our regular lives to travel around North America and Asia for a year; but I’ve never lived anywhere but Vancouver. I love languages, and love to learn phrases in different languages anytime we travel outside of the English-speaking world (üchet prossim!), but I remain unilingual. These are things that I have desired to change. Et voilà, moving to Quebec is my chance!!

But there is still more to the story… something more intangible… I believe the real question is why did we choose to move NOW? Did you ever have the feeling that the world was trying to tell you something? Like there’s a message being sent to you that you just can’t ignore? This is how I felt in the month of June. My new friend, Pascal, gave me a gift: “RESPIRE”, the musical show he created and performed in, saying “maybe it will be poisonous”.  I didn’t know what he meant but I was intrigued. (Later Pascal explained that he only meant that maybe it would be hard for me to understand since it was all in French.) 

The show blew me away!!! 

 It is truly awesome! I couldn’t believe that someone I knew had created something so amazing! And it caused me to ask myself: “What the hell was I doing with my life?!?” I was sitting on my ass, letting life pass me by. My head started to spin. I had to do something! I couldn’t keep “idling” my life away. For me, this was the real beginning. The “poisonous gift” had bitten me hard, and I wasn’t going to be able to ignore it. 

“Can you see the flames from there?” This was Neil’s question to me over the phone after giving notice to his boss. He’d asked for a leave of absence but there was no guarantee. “It’s the flames from the bridges that I’m burning.” Très drôle, non? This line was taken from something we’d read during our Oregon coast camping trip at the end of June… “May the bridges you burn light your way.” 

We acted quickly. We had to in the end. Once we decided that we wanted to take the leap and make the change, it was really a matter of WHEN to go. And that question was decided by Charlotte’s intended school. On July 5th, after only a day’s consideration, we confirmed Charlotte’s place in the same school as Marie-Neige. They would be in the same class. This was the only way that we could hope to have her onboard with our plan to move to Quebec. 

We had SIX WEEKS to prepare to move. Obviously, we were not entirely sane. It begs the question... “In what way is THIS a good idea?!” Is it practical to leave your stable life and move across the country to a town that you know virtually nothing about, having no clear plans save to spend a year learning French?!? Non. C’est fou! But who ever said that life has to be lived in any sort of reasonable manner? This is the new path of “purposeful insanity” that we’ve chosen! 

Raise your glass and say a prayer for us! Hazah!!

Curious to know what happens next? Do we survive? (It seems likely.) Do we speak French fluently yet? (Très improbable.) What on earth do we do to keep busy in Granby, PQ? You could have your answers in MY NEXT BLOG POSTING… coming very soon to a computer near you!