This is the story of my life so far: 69 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 123
As my daughter Roseline was going to have her first child at the beginning of October 2003, I had organized the travel of my mother Marie. This was her second time coming to visit us in British Columbia. Actually, in 2000 or 2001, she had traveled to Seattle with my brother Philippe, to visit my other brother Antoine and his family. Antoine had been sent by his employer Dassault Systèmes to help Boeing that had become their biggest customer.
This time, Marie traveled alone, not with Philippe. As there was no direct flight from Paris to Vancouver or even Seattle, I had found a way for Marie to do the trip in two flights. One of my first cousins, Gaud, lived with her husband and her 8 children in New Jersey. Like Marie, she was a "professional mother". With her husband, they had adopted 4 boys with Down syndrome.
So, Marie took a flight from Paris to Newark and stayed for two days with my cousins. As Gaud had no intention of having any new children, she gave Marie a whole suitcase filled with baby clothes to give to Roseline.
Because there was no direct flight to Vancouver, on October 4th, the second flight was from Newark to Seattle, where I was waiting for my mother.
Less than 24 hours after Marie arrived, on October 5th, Roseline gave birth to my first granddaughter, Faith (@faith-222).
And on the 6th, Roseline and Faith were back to our house on Romaniuk drive.
Marie was a great help for Roseline during the first 3 weeks of Faith's life. To help Roseline to rest, she took Faith in her bedroom at night and only brought her to Roseline when she really needed to be fed.
This is part of what Roseline asked me to say at the funeral of Marie this past July:
She amazed me when she came to my bedroom day after day so I could feed Faith, then infant, in the middle of the night.
For almost a month, Grandma gave me exactly what I needed when I needed it, including a large bowl of milk.
After three weeks, Marie went back to New Jersey for two days, then back to Paris.
During one of her two sojourns with my cousins, they drove her to New York City for a very short visit.
Continue to Part 125
If you like this story, please consider following me @vcelier
Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40 - Part 41 - Part 42
Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48 - Part 49
Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63
Part 64 - Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70
Part 71 - Part 72 - Part 73 - Part 74 - Part 75 - Part 76 - Part 77
Part 78 - Part 79 - Part 80 - Part 81 - Part 82 - Part 83 - Part 84
Part 85 - Part 86 - Part 87 - Part 88 - Part 89 - Part 90 - Part 91
Part 92 - Part 93 - Part 94 - Part 95 - Part 96 - Part 97 - Part 98
Part 99 - Part 100 - Part 101 - Part 102 - Part 103 - Part 104
Part 105 - Part 106 - Part 107 - Part 108 - Part 109 - Part 110
Part 111 - Part 112 - Part 113 - Part 114 - Part 115 - Part 116
Part 117 - Part 118 - Part 119 - Part 120 - Part 121 - Part 122
Part 123