Mountains to climb.

You didn't know there were mountains in London, did you? This particular one is in the local library. Sadie and Parker delight in going up, up, up, up and down, down, down, down for long periods of time. In fact anyone within a few miles of the library can probably hear Sadie shrieking these words at the top of her lungs. Generally such behavior is not looked upon too favorably in a library. Usually spotted at the bottom of this mountain is some worn-out looking mother trying to gather a few precious moments with a book or magazine while her toddlers occupy themselves above her head. I'm afraid I've become one of those mothers.

I feel as though there are endless mountains to climb on this road to resettlement. And I don't have my climbing gear. Well, ok - not really mountains, but sizable hills. It took me three days to mail a letter. I still can't figure out what we're supposed to do with the piles of recyclables at our front stoop. I've only just begun to feel confident in Mount Underground. And grocery shopping - *sigh* - were it not for the nanny, the kids would eat peanut butter and jelly everyday for lunch. The pile of dirty laundry has become a mountain of its own, despite my effort to do a load daily; there are boxes that have yet to be unpacked. But to be fair, there are boxes in our red, reggie home (as Sadie calls the Maplewood abode) that still haven't been unpacked from when we moved from Jersey City.

My most insurmountable task at the moment however is deciding what to do with myself for the next two years. Do I work towards a career change? Follow a long-dormant desire to study alternative medicine? Learn an instrument? Spend every kid-free moment in one of London's many free museums? Become a certified yoga instructor? Work on satisfying that New Year's resolution of 2004 to learn French? Perhaps the answer to all of those questions is Oui.