#life Archives - Renee Jenais

Lauzun and 2025

As I write this, a new year has begun, and I am in a new city but before we talk about that I want to tell you a little bit about the place I just left. Lauzun, France has been my home for the last three months. My friends Jason and Raina had done a…

Annecy

On the train coming into the area of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France, everything seemed to take on this dreaminess as I looked out the window. The mountains watching over our journey, a bit of rain in the distance creating multiple rainbows along the way. I felt like the rainbows were my very first…

How can I do this?

I had done months, actually more like decades of preparation for this move. On some level I have been preparing for it for my entire life. As I prepared to leave the US this past summer, I remember hearing the phrase, “be prepared to feel stupid all the time.” This was in reference to living…

Lessons I learned from 5 days in Sète France

After a wonderful 35 days in Carqueiranne it was time for me to move on to my next destination. I had 5 days that I needed to cover before moving into a longer-term rental in the Dordogne that would see me through until January. As I contemplated where I wanted to spend those 5 days,…

Getting Started

My last few weeks in the US were jam packed with a crazy work schedule, last minute things to take care of and spending as much time as possible with my kiddos. On that Saturday morning, I was ready, all the tasks were done, everything was packed into 3 large suitcases and even Paolo was…

Choosing a dream!

Finally deciding to go after your dreams is not for the faint of heart. In March, I dove in head first to the path that through a series of synchronicities laid itself out in front of me. My dream is to immigrate to France, to live there and possibly one day have citizenship. In those…

Give me a break!

It is Sunday morning; the alarm goes off at 6:30am. Yes, on purpose. At 8am I have my bi-weekly Lifebook accountability group meeting. You see, three years ago now, I went through the Lifebook program which has you build a book that represents your vision and strategy for twelve key areas of life and then…

Dreams, Doors & Decisions

The day before had been my birthday. My dad and I had spoken about him going into hospice care and yet this morning, a different door opened. You see, since I was a small child and heard my great grandfather speaking French and speaking about his homeland, I had this fantasy of living there, of…

Being Present in Another Loss

It was my birthday and my father’s name popped up on my phone. I was on a zoom call with friends at the time we were all booking flights for a trip this summer to Tonga. I thought I would call him right back since we were almost done but when he called again a…