Moments of Joy
June 10
1. I walked 5km with Emma to end up in a small, beautiful, old village with old houses and narrow streets, tucked in right along the shoreline of the ocean. I almost started to cry, and did tear up a little bit because I all of a sudden felt so at home. Even the stop signs and cross walks looked so much like home. The feeling of peace and arriving somewhere I hadn’t know existed, yet feel so connected hit me like a blow and took me completely by surprise. How can you feel at home somewhere you have never set foot before? I think it wasn’t the village as such that felt at home, but rather the familiarity of the streets and houses and the feeling of the town that stirred up so many emotions within me.
There were also Creperies everywhere, to my delight. I think I really bonded with Emma throughout the 12km walk. Even though I understood maybe 10% of what she told me, I think it made her happy that I had come with.
2. I braided Emma’s hair after returning from the walk. It was adorable – she told me that she used to braid her daughter’s hair (I was wearing my hair in braids that day), and she got really excited when I told her I could braid her hair (shout out to Kenzie, if you are reading this, because without your lesson on outside-in-hair-braiding I would not have done as good of a job ). Even more joy brought me Helene’s reaction when she saw the braids: Emma was very happy and thanked me, but Helene was close to jumping up and down because she was so happy and even thanked me. I felt really appreciated for an act that -for me- was such a normal thing. It made me realize the importance of appreciating the little things much more. I don’t ever want to forget the way the four of us (Domenique included) stood laughing in the living room. I felt so appreciated for just being me. And felt more joy than I had in a long time for making Emma and Helene so happy.
3. Sophie and I went Kayaking in the Sunset. Seeing the lighthouse in the sun surrounded by clouds that light up the sky in a soft orange, and Sophie's silhouette against this scenery was beautiful. Sophie seemed totally in her element. We went with Emma, and she did a very good job.
4. I went to take pictures of the dusk-light beach and watched the moon rise orange-yellow like the sun, contrasting the dark blue sky. It’s impossible to describe the beauty in words.
June 11
1. I ate a crepe with chocolate and banana. It was so good. Again, no words to describe the taste.
2. I ripped out so much weed from the garden and the physical work of removing unnecessary “things” felt so good.
June 12
1. It is now a joke that I am very afraid of sardines. Sophie wanted me to take out the intestines of the dead fish so that we could eat them for lunch and as I watched her show me how, I felt all the color drain from my face and felt a little bit sick, too. As I cut open a few fish, she must have sensed my extreme discomfort and started laughing. I probably had a look of utter disgust on my face. She told me it was ok, she would do it.
2. I walked to the beach and geared up at the ocean’s beauty.
3. I sat down on a pier at the beach to read a bit and and an elderly couple came up to discuss the pier amount themselves because they disagreed on its purpose. We started talking because I smiled at their argument, and we had a full conversation in French! I was so proud of myself! Even though I couldn’t understand every single word, I could tell that they were entertained by the fact that I was just here chilling and working at a little vacation home. The husband at some point asked if he could pay me to take a picture of them, peaches I was holding my camera, and I must have looked very confused and the couple started laughing whole-heartedly. They were both very funny and it just made me really happy to see them interact (the husband kept wanting to correct the wife, and the wife kept explaining things to him), and to talk to them, too.
4. Kayaking again with Sophie, we strapped on a little rock island and claimed to the top. The sun was pretty low and everything was orange-tinted or a black silhouette against the light. I teared up again. It’s just all so beautiful and I’ve missed being at peace so much. I feel so connected and yet so in awe of the enormous forces of the sun and the water and the earth compared to which my little self is just a grain of sand.
June 13
1. I went swimming in the ocean. It felt so good to just float in the salty water.
2. I had a conversation with Tato (Sophie’s daughter) about Social Work and Psychology (all very challenging stuff to talk about in a language you’re not even close to fluent in).
3. I sat with the sheep and ma petite chat (the cat) for a very long time. The male sheep is very demanding and started pushing it’s head against my leg each time I stopped petting him.
June 14
1. I made banana bread with Helene and we had so much fun. She found it hilarious that by the time we put the bread into the oven I was covered in flour basically from head to toe and we laughed so much. As I was sweeping the floor after, Sophie came in and smiled at me and seemed very happy that I was happy.
2. The day isn’t over!