What If Wednesday: What If the Pre-France Us Met the Version of Us Now?

What if the version of us before we moved to France met the version of us sitting here today? What do you think they would say to each other?

Well... I expect the conversation would go a little bit like this:

“Oh! I like your hair shorter.”

“Carcassonne? But that’s in the Aude… and it's not even near the sea. I thought we were moving to the Hérault?”

“Wait, you didn’t retire then?!”

And then, after a long, quiet look:

“You look happy… so it must have turned out OK.”

They’d be entirely right to be surprised.

From the Hérault to the Aude: The Pivot in Our Plan

While we have always loved Carcassonne, it was never actually on our original list of places to live.

We began our French adventure in the Hérault, complete with an epic view across the vineyards and Pézenas fireworks lighting up our summer skies. We spent three very happy years there bedding into French life—making lifelong friends, wrestling with French admin, and living through some of the strangest years of my time on Planet Earth (hello, Covid and lockdowns).

When we came to the end of our first three years as locataires (tenants), we handed back the keys and thought: if we’re moving anyway, why not explore another department?

So, we crossed the border into the Aude, lured by whispers that the bang for your buck stretched a little further down the road.

(Spoiler alert: It absolutely does).

Within eighteen months, the region had quietly worked its way under our skin. The one thing we swore we would never compromise on—being close to the sea—turned out to be the exact thing we compromised on. And so, we bought a home in a beautiful village, just fifteen minutes through the vineyards from Carcassonne.

The Grand Retirement Dream (and the Reality of French Admin)

As for retirement? That dream evaporated fairly quickly.

Instead, we became micro-entrepreneurs. If you think French admin is lively under normal circumstances, try quadrupling the volume overnight. It has required Olympic-level paperwork, to say the least!

But here’s the thing: I’m a great believer that everything we do shapes who we become. And our French selves? We are calmer, more adaptable, and surprisingly resilient.

Would I have loved to retire? Unquestionably.

Do I love working with our super clients? Indubitably.

💼 (And if you’d like to join their ranks, it's a very sensible idea—drop us a message and let’s talk logistics!)

Plans vs Perspective

As for Bob, he says he’d still prefer me with long, dark hair. I suspect he’d also prefer it if I were twenty years younger and a couple of stone lighter… but we don’t all get exactly what we want, do we darling?

And that, perhaps, is the entire point of this journey.

Pre-France us had rigid plans.

Post-France us has real perspective.

And somewhere between the two… we managed to find ourselves.

☕ Over to you: If Pre-You could sit down with Now-You for a people-watching coffee in the village square this morning, what would they say? Let us know in the comments below!

Jen x