A great task awaiting me, I was to meet my nephew Liam and his dad Stephane. Yes a lot of things happened in a year and a half! As I expected, my nephew is the most beautiful child of the earth no doubt! His
eyes are blue like expected in my family, and as he is the first, we can
enjoy the magic at its maximum in the cuddling and kissing him all the time.
Admittedly, my mother fell on her knees with fingers crossed and saying, "Finally!" the
day she learned that my sister Claire was pregnant (one of the great regrets of my life will be not seeing that!). Between her globe-trotting eldest, her junior who had trouble finding a shoe to fit, and her youngest son who did not want to have children, she was not looking very lucky! But rest assured, she is totaly into it now, between small knits, "oh yes and you smile there" with a voice affected by a virus that seems to hit us all when we talk to him (high pitched voice and banana smile ) and small peeks to see if he sleeps well in his bassinet.
The
whole family then traveled in the South in Villeneuve-les-Avigons where
we were wonderfully welcomed by the family of my brand new brother-in-law. On the menu, sun, sightseeing and gastronomy from a 4 star chef (Stephane's father), for Liam's first
Christmas with almost all the family (my brother
Thomas has just taken control of a bakery and there was no rest for the boss). It
was nice to discover a new little corner of France and to expand the
family with some nice new people, too bad Ryan was sick for the two
weeks of his stay!Then it was a small Parisian stroll with my husband and (too fast) visits with friends and family. I
apologize, a month has passed very quickly but a thousand times I thank
those who have crossed their time with mine, it did me good. For those that I did not see, or who do not find a correlation between availability, it was not easy to miss you. I sincerely hope to see you next time.
We are now back in San Diego and the time flies between friends, family and job for Ryan. We still had time to make a little trip to Joshua Tree park with friends and family, and despite the cold weather we all enjoyed it. I visited Kirstin's class and made a presentation on France, crepes at the end seem to have won unanimously! I did a quick tour of SDFAS where I worked for 3 years with a little nostalgia for my job as a teacher that I miss but also with a feeling of being gone just yesterday! I go back next week to meet with the class that followed our journey and show them the pearls that I brought from French Polynesia.
Being back like that, it gives a very strange feeling, I find San Diego beautiful and I realize that I also missed the city (for the people this is perceived quickly). I love the different neighborhoods with their own atmosphere, the scenery, my favorite little places ...
I realize since our return that the term "home" that refers to a feeling / place of belonging has become a very complex concept. "At home" is first "home", where Ryan and I are, then it's Shalimar, our "house", but Koehler Kraft where we had the boat is also a bit home, with San Diego
around. My Mom's house is also my home, because I have spent most of my childhood and no place can replace it in my heart. We
appreciate our visit, however we look forward to returning home on
Shalimar, but also where Shalimar is in New Zealand to see the country
and get to work on the boat. So
I have to face facts, my "home" is a bit fragmented, geographically
compact and multi-ethnic and yet I would not change it for the whole world!
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