old post from Christmas

"Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence."

This week I spent my first Christmas away from my family, but I spent it with the closest people I have to family on this side of the pond, and the people who are probably the reason why I am teaching in France in the first place.

When I was a sophomore in high school, about 7 years ago, I was able to be part of a small exchange between the chorus of a high school in Brest, France, and the chorus from my high school. Our school's group went to Brest for a couple weeks of singing and touring the countryside, staying with host families of students from the choir, and, after we returned, the school in France came to stay with our families and sing for our families. It's incredible how less than 30 days steered so many more days in my life. Despite being a diehard Rhode Islander, I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of "home" the first time I came to Bretagne. Because the coasts of Bretagne descend into the same ocean as my home, the "ocean state,"the traditions of my island and Bretagne come from the same waters, it was clear that the breton people shared the same spirit for life, even though they spoke a different language. And, to share music across that language boundary, made the experience especially meaningful. My host sister Margaux's family was always singing, so willing to share their life, their traditions, their language, and their home with me, and at first I tried to keep track of every moment we shared on paper, but after a day it was too hard to keep track. Margaux then came to stay with my family for about a month the summer of my junior year in high school.

Now I'm back in the same house where I left my 15-year-old self many years ago, and while a lot has changed, and there is a lot that has changed me since then, I feel like life is coming together a little bit more in France. Sometimes it's really hard for me to remember what got me here from there...