Wander & Nest

Wow is this real? All year time has felt so weird, confusing, slow, nonlinear. All of the time zones, multiple winters and springs, daylight all day and night, getting settled and resettled so many times, adjusting to new cultures… all have messed with our sense of time this year. And now, it feels like all of the sudden, we are just 2 weeks away from the official end of our sabbatical year.

After we returned from Umeå, I started packing again right away. This time for my solo trip to Toulouse. The trip was to give me a much needed break with a few days of solo time and also so I could begin preparing a few things in our apartment for our move to France to August. This is my first time away from Mara solo in her life! I had the pangs of mom guilt for leaving but luckily everyone around me kept telling me to quiet those voices and enjoy my 3 days away, so I did!

Before I left, we had a relatively normal week of school and work. We hung out with Suzi and the kids a couple of times, giving Mara and Zoe plenty of time to showcase their stubbornness! And Mara has recently discovered a love for juice boxes, the orange festis one specifically. I even got to have brunch with Mara’s teacher, Ranya.

I packed 2 checked bags full of stuff we don’t want to haul to California and then back to Europe again and stuff for our apartment that we bought in Sweden. No surprise, but we absolutely love the simplicity, function, and quality of home goods in Sweden. We picked up drinking glasses, a lamp, throw pillows, a blanket, and a few more odds and ends that I could easily carry in suitcases.

On Monday morning I dropped off Mara at school and said goodbye for a few days, then I headed to the airport. I haven’t travelled solo since February 2020, and oh my goodness, even with 2 large checked bags and a carry on, it was so easy! No bag of snacks and activities to keep at the ready, delays – no problem, changing gates – whatever. I watched Perfect Match on my phone and didn’t talk to anyone, what a treat! Flying in to Toulouse is nice, and you can even see our apartment on the descent!

I arrived at our apartment in Toulouse, took a quick look around to be sure everything looked fine after the apartment was vacant for a few months and then immediately went out for a stroll. Our apartment is in Place Saint Pierre, right on the Garonne river. There was a tango festival happening in the square, I didn’t understand all of the details of the event but every night I was there from Monday-Wednesday people were dancing tango from about 4pm until late into the evening. It was very cool, especially with the backdrop of the river. I had a kebab and watched some of the France-Belgium euro cup game, then walked around a bit, and was again drawn back to the game as big crowds were gathering for the final minutes. It was 0-0 until France scored in the 85th minute then the crowd went nuts, it was so fun! I headed back to the apartment and started some unpacking and projects! I hung the headboard of our bed, luckily I actually had everything I needed in the apartment already! It was nice to do a a little project like this, I hadn’t done anything like this in a year and it was so satisfying.

I spent the next two days accepting IKEA deliveries, shopping for home stuff, assembling furniture, and organizing stuff in the apartment. So basically living my best life. Several times I got to contribute to one of my favorite sights in France – people carrying all kids of things through the city in any way possible. We’ve seen people move couches on bikes, kitchen appliances on the metro, and so much furniture by hand. Unfortunately I had one casualty of breaking a mirror I had just bought because I was getting over confident in my carrying abilities. Lesson learned, things can, in fact, break. I spent the most time on Mara’s room, I really wanted that to be ready for her when we arrive in August. I’m so excited for her to finally have her room that she can feel safe and secure in, which means hopefully that she’ll sleep in it too!

There’s still a lot to do when we move for good of course, like getting dining and coffee tables, the rest of the appliances, some kitchen cabinets, and all decor, but we have a good start now! I was pretty pleased with my mock up of the dining table we plan to order using the boxes and cardboard. We may ship some things from the US, but we’ll have to see when we get to California what actually makes sense to send.

I also had some time to enjoy Toulouse and Place Saint Pierre. In the summer, the city closes the bridge to cars and makes it all pedestrian complete with painted street, seats, sun shades, and plants. Plus with the music of the tango festival and overflow dancing on the steps of the Garonne, it was just so nice.

Meanwhile in Gothenburg, Wylie and Mara had 3 whole days of Papa-Mara time. Everyday after school they went to a park and I’m sure ice cream was involved most days. Sleep had been rocky and it was not exception while I was gone. She refused to sleep in her bed and only wanted to be in her “crib” (it’s not a crib, it’s essentially Tupperware), but hey whatever works. She did that for 2 nights and was back in her bed on night 3, let’s see what happens when I return!

This was a really great week for me, of course to have some alone time, and to start really imagining our lives in Toulouse. As I sit on the plane back to Gothenburg now, I feel a bit nervous but mostly excited about the start of the next chapter in France in just 6 weeks.