So my sincere apologies for not blogging sooner. I am well aware that it has been well over two months since my last blog; however, as most of you know, I first started writing thanks to my mom's encouragement and the enjoyment that she took in reading about "My life in France." So it has taken me awhile to finally take a deep breath, to swallow the tears, and to write this first entry. It starts,
Dear Mom,
How are you? I haven't seen you in so long, what's Heaven like? Did Saint Peter hand you a bunch of papers to fill out while waiting to open the gates of Heaven or were they waiting for you? Did you get to see Pap yet? I have a picture of you on your wedding day where you are hugging Pap and crying. I imagine your meeting in Heaven kind of like that. What's your day to day life like up there? Details, details! We all want to know :)
Dad, Aaron, and I are hanging in there. Although our family hugs now seem rather small without you physically there. Did you see Dad's new motorcycle yet? And Aaron's new apartment that he found in Chicago? I am so excited for him to move and start a new adventure. He seems really excited.
Oh Mom, I wish you were here to help me more with the wedding. Thank you so much for designating a job for everyone, that is SUCH a big help. I am so happy that we got to plan so much of the wedding together before God called you on the phone and told you were invited to the eternal life party in heaven. Do you have to RSVP to that?
I went shopping with Benoit's mother the other day to pick out a color for the wedding! Did you see it? Nice right? Although I am sure that you could sympathize with me in the fact that even though Dominique is so wonderful, so elegant, so warm, and SO FRENCH, her luxurious taste can sometimes make me uncomfortable. For example, Benoit and I found the PERFECT color blue. A lot like this. However, we could only find it in cotton. Cotton just "wouldn't do." It had to be silk. Which is totally fine with me haha, although I want Dominique to understand that I don't mind if my flower girls are wearing cotton and not silk. I am perfectly fine with cotton. What do you think about all of this?
I am starting to call some venues for the wedding and schedule appointments to visit in August. Remember at the hospital when you were bugging us to schedule a visit at the Summit Inn while Benoit and I were home in April? Good thing we waited, now you can come without your wheelchair and your cancer. How great is that?
Going totally against the French style, I wear the ruby red necklace that Molly gave me to me the day your passed away Mom all the time. And when I forget, I get anxious and grumpy lol. It's silly, but it's a concrete object that I can hold close to my heart as a constant reminder that you are there too. Please don't leave my heart, Mom. I still need you.
Work is absolutely 'ridonkulous' Mom. The company isn't doing to well financially so of course, with only paying me 400 euros a month, they have me try to do ALL of the translations from French to English. That would be completely fine with me if they weren't having me do project management jobs too. Grrrr....
Elizabeth and Myf came to visit this past weekend! It was SO good to see Elizabeth. We have been talking a lot since I've moved to France last July. She is just as passionate about words and languages as I am. It's great that we share that in common. I hope that the two of them had a good time and weren't too overwhelmed. I really have the need to spend some time with family lately. I love my friends and "family" that I have here in France, but sometimes you just need to be surrounded by people that you have known since you were a kid. I asked Elizabeth to be one of my bridesmaids for the American wedding! It was weird, I was kind of nervous about asking! I've never gotten married before and don't know how to ask those sorts of questions. She agreed :) 2 down, 1 more to ask!
Did you see I found your wedding dress????? MOM ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't believe you weren't crazy about it. Grandma took it to Uncle Greg's to see if he could get it back to its original color. You're right, it really yellowed over the years. Can you believe that we were EXACTLY the same size on the day of our weddings??? That just blows my mind. Mom's I am truly honored and SO EXCITED to wear it to the French wedding. It's perfect. Thanks for helping me to pick it out.
Finally, Benoit and I got the "save the date" cards printed. You will be getting yours soon. Do I have the right address?
Madame MOMMY!!!
3 Paradise Road
With God, Heaven 371012
Well, gotta go make some dinner. You're the best Mommy I ever had in the whole wide world, and my favorite Mommy I ever had in the whole wide world, and I "meow" you and I "wuv" you. (Good thing you are the only one reading this, my other blog readers will start to wonder hehe!)
I love you.
Love,
Laura
