And In The Beginning

We had visited France in 2001, 2006 and 2009 and loved it. 
So, when the opportunity arose, we sold our house, packed up and moved. 

                            If only it were that simple.

In 2008 we demolished our house of 20+ years and built a new one. This was near the beginning of the “real estate crisis” in America. We had made the decision to build as my mother was physically healthy but with only a wee bit of dementia and living in Canada. As I was her only child, I did not want to leave North America. The timing was regrettable. We moved into our house in June and in July my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer; she was a nonsmoker. Her care by the medical community was excellent and she had so many friends and family who would visit. Ultimately, as foreseen by the doctors, she died in December. It was a sad, teary, cold, windy, day she was buried with my brother's ashes beside her and next to my father and stepfather. She was now safe from becoming an old woman who would not know her family or friends. She was 79. 
Brian's boys, having families of their own and well-established in their lives, we didn't feel the extra miles between us would be detrimental. With Skype and the Internet, we don't have to feel so far away and may even be closer. We hope they will visit us once we are settled.

The Bingham Clan