Oh my goodness. That was a month.

We have thankfully landed back in Canada.  All the bureaucracy, logistical complexities, sorting, downsizing, flat cleaning (to Swiss standards, mind you), tying up of loose ends, sad goodbyes, and the final journey “home” is done.

We have been here over a week now and it is all feeling quite normal – this return to a life we don’t even have to TRY very hard in. No language barriers, no cultural misunderstandings, rules and procedures we understand instinctively. We are easing into it like seals slipping off an iceberg.

And yet… I know this is the initial euphoria. We have been through this before. I figure the shock of it will come in a few weeks time, when Big D is at work, and the kids in school. Nothing truly good is ever left un-mourned. And our time in Switzerland was truly good. The last week spent with lovely people, acting like tourists was golden. That will hit me hard in short order. Maybe the kids too, although they seem oblivious at the moment. I do have a plan to deal with it though. Thats right. Painting.

In the basement of our “meanwhile” house is my mother-in-law’s old studio with enough (albeit drying out) paint to see me through some serious homesickness and displacement. Outside the windows is a landscape wholly different but equally beautiful. Maybe today I will go get a few canvases and start looking for material. Its a beautiful thing, knowing one can weather a storm through the industriousness and quest for beauty found in painting.

So if you are reading this, please check back to see what my relocation blues have yielded. I look forward to this therapy through dauberism, and sharing our new home with you.