“Put your big girl panties on & deal with it!” I recently read this quote and feel the need to praise the author’s keen sense of wisdom. There are moments in my life where I read a quote or hear a song and feel like the fog has lifted, the skies have cleared, and the light has broken through. This most recent quote could not come at a better time.

As Ken mentioned in the previous post, we are indeed moving home early. As to when still remains a mystery and that is a big part of the problem. The girls and I came back to France early with the idea that we were going to be packing up and heading out as fast as possible. As I sit here with a house half packed up and no movers to date….. I have to wonder if it was worth it.

Our trip back here was the absolute worst trip I have ever experienced! I will be the first to admit that even though the trips are hard, they do run smoothly. Our kids are generally very well behaved and we often get comments from other passengers on that fact. But all out luck ran out and we paid dearly for it this last time around.

It all started in Chicago. We had waited out our two hour layover and were just about to board the flight into Paris, when Ken suddenly realized that he left our folder that held our tickets and passports, in the backseat pocket of the last plane that had a continuing flight to Dallas. He ran to the ticket counter, told the news to the agent (who in return gave him the official “what kind of idiot are you! “look), and proceeded to call the other gate. After what felt like a lifetime, we found out that the plane had not yet taken off due to mechanical troubles and that the folder was found. Now the plan was for Ken to haul butt back to the gate to retrieve it. Minutes later, they closed the gate door and sheer panic set in — Ken hadn’t gotten back yet. Ken finally arrived and we were informed that they had stopped boarding due to some engine troubles and that we could board or just wait in the terminal. With three small kids, we did what was only fair to the other passengers…we waited. Turns out that the engine troubles were more than they bargained for and they disembarked all those poor souls who had already baked in the plane for an hour.

The flight finally boarded two hours late and took another 45 minutes to find a spot in the line up to take off. We arrived in Paris late, late, late and dead tired! Because we had expected Ken to only stay in the states for a week, we had parked in the terminal parking and not the long term. His boss kept asking him to stay and it only occurred to us at this moment what that meant. I was actually surprised to see our car was still sitting there and not towed off. Then again, maybe that would have been cheaper! The charges for the parking mounted to a whopping 400 Euros!! That is one bill I am glad I personally do not have to explain to the boss!

After a few minutes of driving Ken and I realized very quickly that neither of us could keep our eyes open for more than 5 seconds at a time and no amount of coffee, even if directly added to our bloodstream, was going to improve the situation. The best plan of action at this point was to pull off at a rest stop and try to sleep for a few minutes. We begged Carissa and Celia to play quietly while the rest of us slept. When we woke after what felt like a 20 minute nap, I felt unbelievably refreshed and was amazed by it. On closer inspection we realized that an hour and a half had elapsed! Bless their hearts, Carissa and Celia played quietly that whole time!

Just so this post does not get as long as that day did, I will sum up what else went wrong. Not long after we got back on the road we realized that we had missed our turn and were heading SOUTH and not straight WEST! We went about 3 hours out of our way. We somehow lost our toll ticket (even though we had never gotten out of the car since we got it) and had to spend 20 minutes explaining where and when we got on the road and filling out paperwork. We finally reached our doorstep at 8:30PM. Exactly 8 hours after leaving the Paris airport that is 4 hours from our house if you go the right way.

At this point, I truly believed that the day was over and could not get any worse. I was wrong! Celia topped off the evening with a febrile seizure. She developed a cold that drained her enough to sleep her way through the jet lag. The rest of us were not so lucky if you want to call it that. The jet lag really kicked my butt this time around and I took relief from knowing that I NEVER had to do that trip again!

After the pain of the trip eased a bit, I began my packing. All too soon, I started having this uneasy feeling that just would not go away. In the back of my mind I began questioning if we really were going to get out of here by the end of August. We have two weeks until we “move out” and we have not spoken with a mover yet. Today Ken informed me that they want to push the move back until mid October after the delivery of the current project is finished. We are trying to decide how to work this out. Do I want to go ahead and move to the states with the girls and leave Ken behind in a hotel, do we want to stay here, or do we want to go to the states to get the girls in school and come back in October to pack and move.

At this point I don’t care what happens, I just want a decision to be made and for the company to stick to it. My patience is running thin and I feel if I can just get home as soon as possible then the company can quit reeking havoc on my life. I think it is just the current mess, but I find it odd that at this point I have no strong desire to stay here in France and I wonder if I will still feel the same on moving day. My ex-pat life is coming to an end fast and I wonder if I will miss it when I am back to my ordinary life in the states.

The scary thing is, I think I hear “never” knocking on my door and holding a big plate of “never” for me to chow down on. Me thinks my idea of never again having to make that trip from the US to France with 3 small kids is fading fast.

Which brings me back to the quote…I guess what ever comes from all this mess, I will just have to “put on my big girl panties & deal with it!”

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