On April 25, 2016 my husband, Keith, and I made a decision that would completely change our lives and the lives of our three kids. We would move our family to France. I signed an offer letter to take a position near Grenoble - right in the French Alps. The position is a good fit for me and the opportunity for our three kids was something we couldn't pass up. The kids' reactions?...that's for another entry.
So, the decision was rather simple...the execution? Well, that's a story we are living. The first decision was that we couldn't have both of us working while we were getting everything ready for the move - so my husband resigned his position in mid-May. My first inclination was to sell as much as possible because my perception of European living was that things were smaller: smaller house, smaller cars, smaller furniture. Throughout May we sold as much as possible through classified ads, garage sale, and word-of-mouth. We were able to empty out our basement and family room. I thought we had a good handle on it. But, what about the house? The vehicles? The ATVs? The motorcycle? The tent trailer? We were told very explicitly that moving our vehicles to France was not advisable because they would be very difficult, if not impossible, to be certified to drive in France. Plus, they mainly drive diesel in France because gasoline is very expensive - so it wouldn't have made sense to take them anyway.
Then we discussed if we should sell or rent out our house? We lingered on that a bit.
Then we realized my husband and I really needed to get to France to look at the area and find a place to live. A week before we left, we made arrangements with a handy-man to fix things on the house that have been partially completed...things like little areas that the tile wasn't finished, staining the deck and front steps, etc. Fortunately instead of us paying him, we traded the ATVs for the work and he ended up paying us...it was a good deal for both of us and it would be done by the time we returned from our trip...