Having fun?

A colleague from work sent a note yesterday asking if I was having fun. The easy response is “Yes, it is a lot of fun”. But that doesn’t really come close to capturing the experience and how we are feeling. This has definitely been fun but not in the same sense that going to Hawaii or Disneyland or vacationing in Paris is fun. This is fun like running a marathon is fun or climbing a mountain is fun. The fun parts are continuously being balanced by the damn hard parts.

As I fully expected, moving the family to a new country, with a language you barely (or don’t) understand, with new routines, a new school, different food, a small apartment to live in, etc. is difficult. There is no getting around that. If we wanted easy, we would have stayed in Bellevue.

And in some ways it has been easier than I expected. There have definitely been fewer tears so far than I thought. Erin has been amazing and has shown me the strength and patience in her character that I’ve realized I’ve taken for granted over the years.

Paige has been continued to be a trooper. She seems to be getting into a routine and has developed some close friendships. We have our first sleep-over tonight!

For Clay, though, it has been really hard. He dreads going to school each day. And it breaks my heart to hear from the teacher that he teared up in class. That just isn’t Clay. He is used to being a leader in his classes, a kid that works hard, listens well, never gets in trouble, and sets a good example. What must be going through his mind to be sitting there for six hours a day with a teacher that is only speaking to him in French and him not knowing what to do? If he didn’t care, it would be a lot easier.

I ask myself whether it is fair to put him through this (cue our refrain to Paige: “life isn’t fair…”). I’m confident that in a couple of weeks or months he’ll be much better adjusted and on track. Then this should be the positive life experience that we are looking for. I sure hope so.

I told my colleague that I’ve come to hate the fact that a lot of people probably think this experience is just about having fun. Hopefully that’ll be better understood and before long I can say without reserve “Yes, it is a lot of fun”.