After a wait of seven years and much planning, dreaming and some dreading, my in-laws arrived Saturday night for a month-long stay. This is their first time in the United States, their first time leaving France, and the first time they have visited our family since we moved here in 2001. Such an event!
The last time they visited we had two children, not five, and we lived an hour and a half from their home, not 20. We were not homeschooling then either, and we had not converted to a simpler, more practical way of cooking and eating, and if I was still nursing a toddler, I was hiding it! Oh yeah, and I was not trying to plan the first family reunion in years and years with my family and them too, nor a family trip to Chicago, two birthdays, French Mother's Day, Father's day, shopping trips and sightseeing.
Will I have any hair left when they leave?
It has all begun splendidly, with many gifts and much joy all around. We made a real French meal yesterday for lunch, (at the end of which my father-in-law said only: don't you have any lettuce here?) They helped us in the yard all day. We took them on a walk, made a nice dinner, with fresh-from-the-oven scones and gingerbread in the shape of roosters (the French national bird.)
We are all on our very best behavior, we shall try to maintain this for one short month and all go home with happy memories. Watch for updates.
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