introducing: SB en france!

so the time for the great handover. I am rubbish at saying goodbye. utterly. i plan not to cry, put on a brave face, but i have never been any good at it. when i was little, nanny and grandad used to leave throwing sweets from the car . I have always sobbed my heart out. losing little nanny and vivien have not helped this at all. the girls know i am a blubber. watching films together always confirms this. anyway, en famille exhorts mothers not to cry, and tbh i knew it was likely that despite my best intentions i would sob my heart out. so told SB in advance that i would, that i loved her, and that parting from her was hard. but also, i was proud of her setting off on her adventure and 100% behind her doing it.

another long drive from loire to lyon later, with BB being shaky at best as the parting came up, we arrived at our french family. they are v lovely, normal, happy family. living in a beautiful mediaeval house in the mediaeval part of a lovely town. maman has migraine and takes same drugs as me – small world! they have a terrace for eating outside under the sahde of v old tree perfect. we spent the whole of the next day together, wandering around town and seeing the school sb will go to. we had lunch and playing at the nearby lake.

when we got back, bb was a bit stressed and unhappy for a bit at the thought of saying goodbye to SB, but she calmed down and after spending a while playing a drawing game and boxes with me, she then had a fab time playing biberbande with FrB and SB.

and the next day we left bright and early. it broke my heart to see bb cling to sb with such a big hug. the worst bit of saying goodbye really. however, sb needs to be able to do things for herself, and we will take care of bb and make sure she gets something positive from this too.

so, having started this blog with SB in our arms, here is SB in the arms of her new family, about to go on holiday have a great time SB, I am sure that you will x x we love you and send you joy in this exchange