As I was going through my old posts, this picture really stood out as representing the moment perfectly. It was a sad time, incredibly sad actually, and that surprised me. It was Freya’s last day at précoce, or nursery school, in our little village of Sanem. She hadn’t been going for all that long really, but she’d got into the routine and so had I. I used to pick her up at lunch time with Hamish on my back in the Bush Baby. Sometimes we’d go up to the chateau to get Lorraine and walk home together, but more often I would use the opportunity to take some pictures with my Nikon.

I was never particularly happy in Luxembourg, so it’s surprising how sad I was feeling during these last few weeks and how nostalgic I feel now looking back. I think it must be largely because I got to see so much of the kids then, although I didn’t fully appreciate that at the time. In which case I should extrapolate that forward to now, so that I do make sure I appreciate the time I have now.

The walk home from précoce was about 10 minutes and it really was a lovely wee village where we lived.

The hardest goodbye was at the forest creche. I took Freya there every afternoon and picked her up at night. It’s the one thing I miss most about Lux. Freya loved it and had a lot of friends there. It was funny to watch her playing with her friends and listen to her speaking fluent Luxembourgish. Ho hum…

Sandy and Eliane