Hi everyone! This is the first entry on my new blog, and I figured I should write something - anything - to ease into it. I'm calling this blog Vegan Voilà because once you go vegan, there you are - voilà! I could also tell you that choosing to be vegan (almost ten years ago) nourishes my sense of connection with my surroundings, my universe, and my soul, but although that's true, it's too a tad too deep for a casual blog about a vegan chick who recently moved to Provence and wants to tell you about her trials and tribulations!
Speaking of challenges, my five year-old bimba comes downstairs for breakfast this morning, and although her mood had been fine up until that point, takes a sip of MHH's banana-date-homemade-almond-milk smoothie (the same one he makes EVERY day), and says : "yuck! this is disgusting!". When MHH points out that this is the same smoothie she happily drinks every morning , all hell breaks loose. Next thing we know she's screaming, thumping her foot, fists clenched. She just won't have it. Her exact words were "I CAN'T HANDLE IT!"
At this point, both MHH and I felt we should let the proverbial door hit her in the --s, but who wants to start the day like this? So the next twenty minutes are spent trying to convince bimba that yes, she has to drink her smoothie and yes, she has to go to school today and no, she can't have a lollypop at eight o'clock in the morning. Isn't she too young to behave like she going into hormone-induced self-combustion? Isn't that MY hard-earned right?!
Of course, guilt sets it the moment she left my sight, pulling her giant backpack up the stairs at the local village school she attends here in Provence, where we've lived for two years now. All thoughts of smoothie-bashing dissipate as I drive off, overcome by a sense of pride for this little girl who is now in first grade in a regular French school, where two years ago she'd never even heard of a country named France. I think back to two years ago, to the first day we dropped her and bimbo off at their new pre-school, the only school in the tiny countryside village of Provence where we'd just moved. They could not've stood out more if they'd tried. American, Jewish, Vegan, Nudist children. Oh, and did I mention they didn't speak a word of French?
A big part of me seriously wondered if they'd come out of the experience alive, and the doubts kept building up in the days to follow. As the novelty gradually wore off, the reality of their situation became clear. Their old friends from Florida were gone and would be hard to replace, the weather was shitty and cold, the teachers might as well have been speaking Chinese. We went through a tough six weeks. The kids would cry miserably at drop off every day, and I would cry in the car on the way home. And then one day, bimbo made a friend. Samuel was the only other jewish kid in the entire school, so it was doubly cook that they should connect.
Fast forward six months (how long is that in "kid years"?), and they're both speaking French. Not fluently yet, but damn! They're holding their own at recess, no longer bullied and traumatized and come home with new words every day. Finally, light at the end of the tunnel. What a relief that was!
So my reminiscing this morning really helped put things in perspective. Bimba's been moody lately, and often downright rude, and although I shouldn't condone it, I also realize that we all need to blow off steam once in a while. I know in my heart that my job as a parent is to respond with kindness and love. The journey is always, always more important than the destination, and it feels like the decision to trade our fast-paced career-oriented life for one where on any given afternoon you can find bimba, le chien, and I wondering around the provencal country side gathering pine cones and kindling for the fire was in alignment with everything that I've come to believe. The quality of the attention we give the present moment as it unfolds is the very best way we have as human beings to carve a balanced and peaceful future. Even if it means that smoothies are out.
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