Falling out of The Tree & Climbing Back Up

It has been awhile since I have written in this blog.  Believe me, I have totally been aware of this.  You see, the reason I have waited to write is because its been rough. If you don't want to know the nitty gritty, then I'll give you a brief synopsis; we got to Biarritz, fought like hell to stay, but the funding was cut for Alex's job and by the end of 2015 we were left with no other choice than to return to the U.S with our tails between our legs so to speak.

But that is NOT where our journey ended : ) No, it is where our rollercoaster year and a half began!

We found hope in the sadness

Thanks to the network of Expats we made while in Biarritz, an opportunity surfaced.  A California expat connected us with another California expat who connected us to a French business owner of a small start-up.  About a month before we had to leave Biarritz for the states, Alex met with this business owner and discussed the possibility of expanding his business into the U.S and potentially, a return for us to France.  The owner was up for it, but wanted market research and proper due diligence done before any promises could be made.

We began to have a glimmer of hope that we might one day return to our home.

Fast forward a few months and Alex had completed the market research and began setting up and developing the business in the states.  It was slooow and we were having to rely on Alex's parents for support while we figured out what would happen, which made us feel even more down even though it would have been twice as difficult without their support.

The turning point

May comes around and we receive news from Alex's boss that he would like to visit him and come meet the first client in the U.S face to face.  We were ecstatic!  He came for a week and really helped Alex to tap into his strengths and told him his plans for him in the future which included us returning to Biarritz.  We couldn't believe it.  The needle in the haystack was found.  But first, lots of work and soul searching had to be done.

For the next year, Alex worked hard to gain clients in the U.S and expand into motorsports with the registration software.  He attended a foreign motorsports tradeshow in Germany in November and began making contacts.  However, progress was slow. So, he decided to go after the original market of marathons, triathalons, cycling events and he started gaining some traction.

Alex also did some work on himself to better prepare him for a more international role abroad.  This consisted of daily French lessons (which we ended up doing together) with our favorite Basque French teacher Kike Gorri), developing himself psychologically (to shake the bad energy from the previous job), attended a 3-day RADA course on public speaking and read multiple books on workplace culture and structuring.

While he was busy ramping up the business in the US, I was trying my hardest to crank things up with my own business.  I ended up continuing my online counseling, building websites, working at kart races and managing social media for a karting association.  Not bad for being in an odd transition period.  In the beginning of 2017, my online counseling business really picked up after becoming a contract employee for Betterhelp.com, which really gave me the boost I needed to feel as though I was living my purpose again.

All of this effort came together in the Spring of 2017 when Alex's boss told him to pack our bags and get back to France!  There is something wild that happens when you finally hear what you have been waiting for, something bizarre. Even though we were completely excited, it was like we were in shock.  Don't get me wrong, I had been stalking the apartment rentals for some time now and had already built a list of household items to purchase once our dream finally came true, but this was REAL.  Still, my psyche tried to shelter me from further disappointment and told me to wait on the celebration we wanted so badly.

Making it REAL

We proceeded to jump onto the Atlanta Consulate website to obtain an appointment to request visas.  Clicking through the site month after month......JULY. The next available appointment was in July.  Now came time for the tornado of paperwork.  Last time we did this, it was a huge song and dance and I was dreading being face to face with the man who had brought me to tears as he tore apart my dossier (folder) and made a mess of the documents I had in order.  "Not this time," I thought.  This time, we are going to be extra ready for anything that is thrown at us.

July comes and we made the 5 hour drive to Atlanta.  We sit in the lobby waiting to be called to the window and there is the man.  This time, I tried to imagine good things and I was determined to show how much I learned since being here last.  I listened to the young man speak to him in French and I even understood what he was saying! Perhaps if I spoke to the man in French to my best ability he would see how determined we were.  Our turn.  He talks to us very stern in a business manner but in English.  He reads through Alex's work contract and papers and changes to French.  Alex responds back in French and we continued in French until the end of the appointment.  I caught him misplacing some documents and return them to him to keep and we leave.  The big stress was done!

And then we had to play the waiting game.....would it be 2 weeks? 4 weeks? Not approved? We received an email the next day informing us that our "man" would be going on vacation so our case would be picked up by someone else.  We didn't know if this was a good thing or a thing to worry about so we just continued waiting.  It came down to the weekend before we were to take off for France (bags were packed, cat travel documents filed, car sold, etc) and we heard nothing. So, we typed a gripe and asked them if we would receive our visas in time.

"Your wife's visa has not been approved."  What does that mean?! Does that mean it is processing and will eventually be approved? Does that mean it won't be approved in time? Ugh. We decided to get out for some air and be distracted in Asheville, NC.  On our way back home, I figured out how to check the status of a visa by using a backdoor url that is not published on the Atlanta Consulate website.  I'm pretty sure it works for any consulate (you just have to change the ending number in the url to find your city) so you can use this method if you are reading this waiting on your status too.  Still nothing as the status said, "In process."

At this point, I was pretty freaked out because I had been having "special screenings" at the airport for the past year and in Madrid they told me that the US government had tagged me for some reason to be searched.  Did this play a role in why my visa was taking so long?  While we binge watched a series on Netflix that night to keep our minds calm I filed for a redress number with the Department of Homeland Security in case my identity had been mistaken for someone else's.  Perhaps it had nothing to do with that, but I wanted to do what I could do.

One last check on the status before we went to bed.  It had been APPROVED! Woohoo! It would be coming the day before our flight.  Talk about a close call.  With that out of the way, we allowed ourselves to become more genuinely excited about our future.

The new beginning

Alex's parents drove us to the airport.  It was the 3rd time they had seen us off for France.  It was less emotional than the other times and they were happy that we were finally getting to do what we had been working towards for the past year and a half.  They knew they would be visiting soon and would have a vacation spot with us in the future, so there was an air of positivity that felt great.  We are so grateful to have had them during this time to lean on and encourage us to 'keep going' in achieving this dream.

No sleep for me on the plane rides, I was packed full of emotion and excitement that had been bursting at the seams to come out for quite some time.  I was a human Jack in the Box ready to spring forward and jump right in where we had left off in France.  Charlotte to Atlanta, Atlanta to Paris, Paris to HOME.  It was a long journey, physically and emotionally but were were finally home in Biarritz and life never felt as good as when we landed in the beautiful green hills of Pays Basque.