The end of an enjoyable undertaking
My apartment in Étampes has been a delightful playing ground.
My father arrived 9 days ago,
My sister & beau-frère (brother-in-law) and nibling 6 days ago,
My mother 5 days ago.
We had.
The best.
Time.
We’re already talking about doing a weekly trip every year.
A different city?
Rent an AirBnB?
Amsterdam?
New Orleans?
Card games and good food?
Maybe nature…
They’ve made a great family, my parents have.
Created an excellent culture of everyone getting along.
And when we don’t get along, tolerating.
And when we don’t tolerate, figuring it out.
It’s not everyone who can pull together a whole disparate family
And all have a nice time over such a long period of time.
Neutral ground was meaningful.
No habits for anyone.
It’s nice to visit someone in their natural habitat
But a new place is better.
Perhaps next year I’ll also be the scout-ahead guinea-pig.
I could spend a few days settling in,
Then the family follows.
Today, I helped my sister’s family to the airport,
drank two boba teas,
ate Paris’ best bahn mi,
and sat in the sun in the park for 3 hours.
After dinner, we played cards
and are finally calling it an early night.
It’s nice to have stayed up til 1 or 2 am every night,
because we just want to play one more hand of cards.
Not that the cards matter;
it’s just nice to be in each other’s company.
Julian Wise 