It is never really goodbye | Day 132 of my 2023 Journal

The families are starting to leave.

Nomads always move around, and now the castle experience is ending. Everyone is going in different directions.

The circles meet over and over; plans are being made all the time of when and where to meet again. As one of the beautiful teens said: It is not that hard to meet again when both families are nomadic. It is much harder to see people again if they live in the same place.

So, it is happening. We make plans of when and where to see people; we adjust, change and move and squeeze things to make it all possible.

To enjoy a “final day,” I went to the gym in Caen to climb and hang out. It is very far from my usual mode of operations to not see the castle, the museum, and the cathedral - but in this case, it has been the right thing to do: Focus on the relations, the conversations, the hanging out.

After sending the new friends off to new adventures, we met with my uncle Christian who lives here in Normandie and, by coincidence, was in Caen for the month. It has been tough to carve out time to see anyone outside the castle community this past month as we have decided to prioritize this need, especially our teens, to be around the other teens.

But finally, on a rainy Friday night, we got to spend a few hours with Uncle Christian, laughed a lot, and shared many stories and smiles. Funny enough, we walked into a random cafe, and it was almost an exact replicate of a cafe we enjoyed very much when we were in Paris last year in September. The one in Paris has the funny name “je peut pas, j’ai pony,” and you enter through a Tardis door to a board gaming cafe with all sorts of Star Wars references and geeky funny waiters.

Returning to the castle, we speed-cooked and joined a shared meal and a shared evening with conversations, wine, tea, and stories. Late at night, I found myself watching a Disney movie in the living room with the children.

The days are long and beautiful.

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

# 132 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here