One final update…
On December 12, 2012, after five and a half years living in Paris, we moved back to the United States, and have settled in San Diego, California.
When we started this blog back in 2007, we imagined that we’d document every step of our journey to get to France and all the interesting experiences we were to have as expatriates living there. In practice, we found that we were always too busy living life to document it, and despite our best intentions, we ran out of steam for new blog posts by 2008. I thought I should add just one last entry to wrap up the blog in case anyone wonders what happened.
During our time in France, we had many adventures. We also had a child, who’s now two and a half! Life in Paris was everything we expected it to be—wonderful, terrible, enriching, confusing, relaxing, stressful. We had some of the best times of our lives there, and some awful experiences too. We met some wonderful people and made lasting friendships. We are incredibly glad we did it—it was life-changing, that’s for sure. But we are also happy to be back in North America.
Why did we leave? It wasn’t because we got sick of France. We still love Paris, and in fact we already know we’ll be back for a visit in less than a year. The reasons for our decision are many and complex, but they boil down to this: We realized that we’d had the experience we wanted to have. We accomplished our mission, and as such, staying there no longer fit with our top priorities in life. The things that feel most important now are better accomplished in North America, and more particularly here in Southern California. We think it’s the right move for our family, our careers, and our well-being. Perhaps one day in the future we’ll decide to live in France again. Or perhaps we’ll go somewhere we haven’t imagined yet. But for now, we’ll enjoy the sunshine, excellent Mexican food, and less-frantic pace of life here in San Diego.
If you’ve come to this blog because you’re interested in moving to France, we still think that’s an outstanding idea, and we wish you the very best in your efforts!
