Friday, October 29, 2010

sunrise, sunset, sunrise

In seems that the only logical time for a person to pull an all nighter is when they are in college.
You are expanding your mind and enriching it with diversity and being taught the importance of whatever. Honestly, nobody remembers what is being studied at 5 a.m.
And heaven forbid your are an Art Major and your Professor wonders how the hell you made it into art school and cant draw a straight line. Lets ponder this idea for a moment...
After all the saying goes "nothing good happens after Midnight" 90% of the time this is correct.
So why did I pull an all nighter? Im typing this and my eyes feel like they are bleeding, my stomach is consistently reminding me that it has not eaten, but I am in such an anti-euphoric haze I cannot bare the thought of eating. How the hell did I stay up for days on end a mere 4 years ago?
Again with the digressing (PhotoBanjomaster C. Knight that goes out to you). Okay digressing out of the way.
I come from a family of hoarders. But wait family- before you say No we are not, hear me out. We pass around furniture like Thanksgiving sides. Nothing is ever too cherished to pass along to another in our family. Its almost a rite of passage.... Until that rite of passage from 1927 breaks underneath someones behind into at least 16 pieces, and into the dump it goes. Then your Grandma asks about the chair 3 years later and you feel like a dog in the kennel. Sullen eyes, sunken mouth, tail tucked tight, and there is no where to go. 
I cannot let go of anything. I love my family, especially my Granny. Anything she gives me is considered special to me. The Christmas ornament from the dollar bin, to the ornate blue glass from the 1940's. She gave it to me and I love it. And she feels the same way about most of these tangible things. She would rather hold onto all of it for someone else in the family then see it given away. To me, thats a good women, her family comes first. My Husband  and "collected stuff" on the other hand.... you know where this is going. So in an effort to jump start this arduous task of "downsizing". We spent the entire night keep, toss, keep, toss, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep- Honey we cannot take all of this to France with us. You have seen the size of the houses. But Husband our daughter likes it!!
Homey, its a graduation statue from your sisters graduation cake 2 years ago.
But..... Granny bought it. Yeah... he went to bed after that comment. I consider it a win for that precious little blue statue, complete with the same haircut as my Sister. So the laundry kept being cycled and I matched socks and struggled with saying good-bye to my last baby's baby clothes. The clocked ticked from 4 am to a lousy 5:30 a.m. My son woke for his normal feeding which I was almost annoyed-to-do, but did. As I tucked him back in, collge came flooding back with the rise of the sun. I hate, hate still being awake when the sun is coming up. Anyone who has worked 3rd, even 2nd shift knows where I'm coming from. My casino girlfriends are nodding and laughing, because the chicken crate dance is not really that funny at 3 a.m. So the sun is comming up, and I am just disgusted, sick and irritated at the sun rising. What a rude thing to do. Go back to bed sun, I wish I could have gone to bed! However there are 10 piles of clothes to sort through. "Can she fit into this next year?  She never eats so maybe, but I dont want to waste space on something that might not fit. But I need to budget over there. We loose 25 cents for every dollar!!" And our son, grows for fun. Seriously I think he trys to see how long he can nurse and then grows an inch over night. So I have no clothes for him past February-ish. And those Mr Potato Heads, Strawberry Shortcake coloring books, the activity art center, play kitchen and 500 pieces of food, will not seperate themselves. It's difficult to decipher what a child will cherish in 3 years upon returning to the States. And what will be appreciated when shipped over.
I have no idea how Im going to pull this off.
 Im begining to think this will be more of an internal lesson learned. There is more to this then just figuring out that "WC" does not stand for walk in closet when house hunting. One lesson I can confidently say that I've learned-coffee and cigarettes only go so far. Yes, I've taken up smoking lately. And yes, it is 4 in the afternoon an I should be asleep, but when I have an extra set of hands to watch the kids then I must keep on! Pass the lighter and creamer sil vous plait....
p.s. "WC" stands for water closet. Which is, a room the size of a toilet, with yes, just a toilet.

4 comments:

  1. Hi yoyomama

    Came here from Amber's place...

    If you're moving to Lyon, you might want to check out http://lyon-eats.blogspot.com/ - lots of stuff about where to get those American food items that you might miss (in the early days, anyway.)

    All the best

    Keith

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  2. Hi Yoyomama

    Like Keith, I came over from Amber's...

    I'm based in Lyon and have been on and off for the last 14 years so if there's anything you want to ask, feel free! Like wise, if you want to meet up with a fellow English speaker when you get here feel free to email me - my address is pigletinfrance AT yahoo . co . uk

    Lyon is a great city and I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time although it is lonely at first but there are plenty of clubs and associations you can join.

    If you're looking to learn French then the Alliance Francaise near Guillotiere (not the best district to live in mind) is great, I spent a year learning French there a long while ago and found them very good as opposed to the university (Quai Claude Bernard from memory) where everything was very much more centered around grammar rather than getting by.

    Anyway, enough wittering, I'm sure you have plenty of things to do rather than read this, your packing experience sounds very familiar to mine so good luck!

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  3. Pigletinfrance-
    I think you may be my favorite lyonnasise yet!
    and this lyonnaise word, does that rhyme with mayonnaise? I always hear that in my head when i say it.... As for the intense packing, I appreciate stopping that hemmroid and reading new tid bits. It puts it all back in perspective. So please keep it coming! And you spelling out your email made me laugh, not sure why but it just did! And thank you for the link to churches.. Im hoping to find a nice little old preacher man that just loves expatriots and hosting a church service in english...

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  4. Keith-
    I could have sworn I posted a reply to you? UGH lets jsut add figuring out how the heck to blog in addition to um , everything else! I had NO IDEA that your taste of... was filled with such lovely morsels of garlic! I instanly wanted to find a friend and drop off my kids and crack open a bottle and enjoy. But this maybe me digressing into "I dont care if we have anything but clean underwear packed for France" so thank you for finding me amusing, sharing your opinion of my amusement, and will spend an afternoon divulging in those piles of garlic!

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