Running. In Place.

We're plugging away, friends. Our review would likely change minute by minute, day by day. Ebbing and flowing with the settling in. We've landed in a lovely town and in a great school with warm and welcoming staff and families. But we're also clinging onto our former life and feeling more than a bit in between, unsettled, unmoored. I am working through a treatise on repatriation like you wouldn't believe. Some of you are already suffering through my lengthy emails. Tough training, these days to be sure.

We're challenging each other to be outgoing even when we'd rather cocoon. To make new friends when we know full well we have a bundle of fantastic friends. Many of whom are just an ocean away. Trying to keep a mental list of all the pros to our life here and not overly romanticize our past, too. It helped that a London friend reported this morning that they awoke to 13C!  Oh, right. The weather in London wasn't great. But there was all that good cheese, and brioche and mini pain au chocolat.

So it is high time to enjoy pep rallies, sweet tea, thunderstorms and listening to NPR on the way to school. See, I am putting things in the pro column!

Everyone is seeking new and exciting ways to get involved. Our maybe just get moving. Big Brother has joined the school's cross country team. Ahead of his first meet he did a long run (2 miles) with the Mister and the next day conducted a little training for the girls. They sorted their "running clothes" for nearly as long as they actually ran but it was well worth it.

Orange you glad you dropped by? I sure am. Now can you come over soon? You can help with the slicing, running and general moving forward. Biggest Brother's fan club might wonder where he was during all the running around. I suspect he was doing homework. That seems to be his primary occupation these days. A good distraction from missing you and yours.

We all have homework of sorts. Tops on our list is making friends by being friends. But we know we're not alone. We have each other and your great support and God's with us, too. I was reminded of that very plainly this morning at the school's Mass. Would you believe these first lines of the first hymn the children sang:

"Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I'll follow..."