Each morning for part of the time that I’m on the treadmill I listen to a French language instruction course. Lesson after lesson, repeated time and again, it all finally starts to fall into place. At the end of the main course there is a review of the verb tenses that the instructor has taught you so far–all 18 of them. Ironically the verb they use is “to sell” and the object is “a house”. Today not only can I say in the abstract that the house is sold (was sold, would have been sold, etc.) I can also say it and mean it.

Yep, after only a week or so on the market we’ve accepted an offer from someone to buy the house. Actually, we had the first offer on the first day it was listed but we could not come to an agreement. This time is different and we anticipate smooth sailing through the closing process right on schedule when we can officially say “sold” or La maison est vendu!

The lesson learned here is not really the language one; it’s the importance of selling your house before you make definite plans to move, especially overseas. Oh, it’s so much more interesting to look at all of the available places where you want to live than to first sell your current home; however, your stress level will stay much lower if you’re not wondering when you’re going to be able to leave.

So now we can move full speed ahead in getting our visa to live in France. I’ll post a detailed listing of the documents that we need to take with us but briefly we now have to move to Florida, get a driver’s license, buy overseas medical insurance, purchase airline tickets, get Heather’s health record certified by the USDA and then be in Carcassonne by March 1. Why the rush? Our lease in France starts then and Delta Airlines will no longer fly your 4-footed companion on the same plane with you after that date. No worries, piece of cake!