Construction Zone: Building Friendships

 I don’t feel like I have any grand take away from this week, but it was a good week. On Tuesday we dropped Gideon off at school and then got home only to find Pierce had a TOTAL blow out. Clean up involved a hilariously careful ride in the elevator, clothing removal on a piece of cardboard so that the poop wouldn’t get caught in the cracks of our beautiful chevron wood floor (like it has previously…gross!) and a full anti-bacterial bath! Then we met up with Gideon for lunch at the zoo next to the wildly entertaining bush dogs while Gideon told us about a fun activity at school where he had to jump through as many hula-hoops as he had syllables in his name. He also mentioned that he accidentally ran into a kid on the playground, but he assured me, “mommy, I asked him, “ca va?” and he nodded his head. So, I think he was ok.” After picking him up from school we got to walk home with one of the little girls in his class and her mom. It incredibly delightful to get to know another parent and to watch Gideon ride his scooter alongside a little friend.

Wednesday, I was desperate enough for friends that I took the boys on an hour-long train ride to a park south of Paris to meet up with a group of English speakers that were supposed to be meeting there. Sadly, my efforts to speak English loudly all around the playground did nothing to help me find the group and we left without meeting anyone. But, when we left we decided to explore a neighboring chateau (you know because here in France there are neighboring chateaux everywhere! Haha) and it was spectacular! We had a blast exploring the gorgeous gardens, picnicking in the most picturesque place, and even discovered another super fun playground.

Thursday a former temple square missionary that I served with came over for dinner with her husband. We had a blast getting to know them/catching up. They gave us great advice about the best French cheeses and brought us an incredible assortment of patisseries to try. But mostly it was just so nice to have someone in our home that really felt like a friend. In preparation for them coming I went to the market to pick up some produce and we made a friend with the melon seller who thought Pierce was so cute that he “snuck” a banana in our bag. He told pierce, “This is just for you. Don’t let you mom try to share it! It is just for you so you can be a big healthy boy.”

On Friday Benjin left for a conference in California. It’s our first time being on two different continents and it not our favorite thing, but we are making it work. Gideon’s count down chain helps us remember that he will come home Thursday! On Saturday Pierce and Gideon and I celebrated Benjin’s birthday (despite his absence) by going to the Paris Science Museum. We had a great time! The highlight was the construction room where Gideon operated a crane and Pierce wheelbarrowed his little heart out. Along with getting us into the science museum, our ticket also let us tour an old French submarine. I was surprised by how thrilled Gideon was about touring the sub. He loved getting to see all the ladders, buttons and nobs. Pierce was less enthralled because mommy kept bumping his head trying to get him through the tight quarters. From there we were planning to check out a neighboring park but ended up at an incredible sports festival instead. The festival was aimed at helping people get active by exploring new sports. They had booths about everything from golf and rowing to volleyball and dirt biking. Gideon got to try fencing, a high ropes course, horse-riding, soccer, and some sort of racket version of tetherball. We had a blast, but by the time we left the boys were pooped.

On the way home Pierce (who is always popular on public transit) made a special friend with an older French lady. They spent a good long time waving back and forth and exchanging smiles. Finally, it was the woman’s stop and as she stepped off the tram she waved at Pierce and said “au revoir.” To EVERYONE’s surprise Pierce responded clear as a bell, “au revoir!” The woman was so shocked she poked her head back into the tram and repeated, “au revoir.” Pierce again said, “au revoir.” We all cracked up and she went on her way. I’m thinking that might just count as his first word.

Saturday evening we had a picnic dinner on the floor of our living room while we watched the Saturday morning session of General Conference. With the time difference and Benjin being gone I had been planning to mostly just watch General Conference while the boys were asleep/when I could. However, when Gideon heard it was General Conference he got so excited that I determined I needed to try and include them even if that made it less likely for me to have insightful takeaways. So, we spent Saturday evening and Sunday watching sessions of conference interspersed with bubbles and dancing during the hymns and drawing/worksheets during the talks. It is still a little unclear how much we all were able to absorbed beyond trying to keep Pierce from driving his cars on the TV screen, but we felt the spirit and kind of like when my fellow Temple Square sister came over for dinner, watching Conference felt like our dear general authority friends were spending the day with us. That helped me not feel so lonely.

I guess that is the takeaway from this week. It is nothing wildly profound, but friends make a difference. Being alone in a new country where my lack of language skills holds me back from comfortable conversations is lonely. But I have to remind myself that there are lots of kinds of friends: friendly booth owners at the market, school parents that you chat with briefly, little old French ladies on the tram who wave and say, “au revoir,” and two little adventure buddies that help you remember how fun bubbles are. This may make me sound desperate (which is totally ok because, as I already mentioned, it’s true! :D), but it is also true that there are a lot more friends around each of us than I think we often realize. And each of those friends makes a difference.   

So, I hope I can wheelbarrow my heart out in order to keep building friendships. In the meantime, here is to ripping off one more paper from our count down chain! Thursday here we come!!

La famille Facer