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I took this picture soon after we returned from France, setting the self-timer on the camera and posing with boxes of some of my favorite French cookies. I brought these back from Nantes and have been very slowly enjoying them, each time savoring not only the cookie but the memory of France eating them evokes. I think of our little grocery store at the end of the block, how much I came to appreciate it’s location. I dubbed it the “pantry,” given it was so close to our house.

On the subject of French foods, Melinda made a point of picking up authentic French croissants for our breakfast last Friday, Chloe’s last breakfast in Seattle before heading off to college. Combined with the Bonne Maman jam, croissants are another incredible way to evoke France memories.

Speaking of French memories, here’s a happy birthday to Romain who is 19 today!!

And changing subjects, today was the first day of school at PSCS. Technically, it’s the first “night” of school, too, considering the students and staff (including me!) are on an overnight retreat right now.

We received an email from Laurent today that including a couple of photos, one being this quick shot of our beloved tram, Line 2 (Ligne 2) in Nantes. I doubt Laurent thought his photo would end up on the blog, but I so much appreciated receiving it that I couldn’t resist. I mean I know life has gone on in Nantes without us, but Ligne 2, too? It hasn’t had to close down, mourning our absence? I all but proposed to it (in fact, I think I may have back on March 15th).

The other photo sent by Laurent was of a band playing at Les Rendez-vous de l’Erdre, the city-wide jazz festival that takes place each year at this time in Nantes. We absolutely loved it last year, attending several days with Laurent and Frédérique. You can see what I had to say about on Day 60 last year.

Getting emails like this and looking back at my blog entries provides me with such a warm feeling. What an incredible experience we had, the kind of thing that we’ll be referencing for the rest of our lives.

And at the rate I’m going, I might be doing that right here on the blog…

One bonus to Chloe attending college in Canada is the fact that Canada is a bilingual country and the two languages featured are English and French. As we entered the border crossing area on Friday we were excited to have this made quite plain to us and took a picture of this sign (and a couple of others, too). Having both languages side by side this like is kind of like having Google Translator right there on the signs. I could have used this kind of thing in France.

Another thing Chloe liked was the return to the metric system after we crossed the border, further harkening us back to France. Speed limit signs and distances are in kilometers and temperatures are in Celsius. Melinda and I both smiled on Saturday morning when Jenny, wife of my cousin Eric and whose house we stayed at Friday night, mentioned it might reach 30 degrees over the weekend. That’s hot!

Say, I just got an email from Chloe and guess what. Her Canadian cell phone isn’t working. What is it with us and foreign cell phones? We went in on Friday and tried setting her up with the simplest of prepaid plans, text messages only. The service didn’t come on in the allotted time so Melinda and I went back on Saturday and started the process all over again, assured it would work this time.

Nope…

We’re back from taking Chloe to her college in Canada and I’m more than a little bit tired. Not only is there the drive, there’s the border crossing AND the emotional part of dropping off your first child at college. So yes, we’re back home and the house already seems a little different. The door to her room is open at 11pm and it’s not because she’s out for the night. She’s out for college.

Today’s picture is of Chloe and her roommate, Andrea. Andrea is from Bolivia and is extremely sweet and nice (I think she could pass for 14 or 15 but that may be more a reflection of my age than Andrea’s). We also met Andrea’s mom who accompanied her from Bolivia and was experiencing all of the same parent reactions that Melinda and I are feeling.

It was a great two days. Quest University knows what they are doing and puts on a great orientation for parents and students. We participated in sessions on the neurology of what is happening in both parents and their children, details about college life at Quest, and a couple of casual receptions that allowed us to schmooze with the entire faculty (referred to at Quest as “tutors”).

Chloe had sessions of her own, including one on how to co-exist with the wildlife in the area, namely coyotes, cougars and bears. How’s that for an initiation??

We’re off to take Chloe to college today, something I’m sure I’ll post about tomorrow. I’ve created this post in advance of our departure, and set it to publish while we are away.

This photo was taken in France 11 years ago, meaning Chloe was 7 years old. We were taken to France then, along with Melinda’s ENTIRE family, by her grandfather who wanted to celebrate his 90th birthday in style. It was an incredible two weeks in France, the first in Paris and the second at a villa in southern France. For anyone who cherishes family and wants to be part of a celebration of your life in its sunset years, a celebration that includes you, I recommend something like this.

As you may have figured out, I’ve chosen this photo today in honor of Chloe. I’ll tell you, taking your child to college certainly gives a parent pause to think. Rising quickly to the top of these thoughts is, “Where did the time go?” Her first day in kindergarten seems like last week, for instance. And I can see her proud preschool face when the sun came out in February and she asked us to fill her kiddie pool.

Today is one of those benchmark days, indeed.

This is the last night in our Seattle home as a family of two adults and two children. Tomorrow, Melinda and I take Chloe to Quest University in Squamish, British Columbia where she begins college next week. It’s one of those very exciting moments in a family, shown in emotional scenes on TV and in the movies, the child all packed up and being delivered to college. I can safely say that we are feeling all of those things a family is expected to feel right now.

Most significantly, though, I’d say we are all feeling excited. Chloe is well-prepared for this next step and as parents, Melinda and I are excited for her to take it in her life. We aren’t lamenting the loss of her daily presence in our lives (as much as we will miss her), but are focusing on the naturalness of what is happening. It helps that she won’t be too far away, about a 3-4 hour car ride (depending on the border).

I asked Chloe what she wanted to do tonight, expecting her to want to go out to dinner. Instead, she wanted the four of us to eat together around the table at home, a tip of the hat to the importance she places on the routine we’ve had for over 18 years. Her lone request was, get this, rainbow sherbert for dessert.

Before eating, Ella gave Chloe a going-away gift she had found – Milka chocolate! Ella was pleased to find it at a local drugstore, especially so when we thought it was only available in Europe.

Changing subjects, my dad is home from the hospital and resting comfortably. The news continues to be excellent.

I spent most of the day with my parents (that’s my mom with me in today’s photo). About two weeks ago my dad fell while on a hike. After a visit to his doctor to see what was up, it was determined he should see a cardiologist, which he did yesterday. The cardiologist discovered his heart wasn’t beating as it should and recommended a pacemaker be implanted, scheduling the surgery for today, less than 24 hours after seeing him. I met my parents at the hospital just before my dad was wheeled in to surgery, and then spent the rest of the day with them there.

To cut to the important part of the story, everything is fine, exceptionally fine, in fact. My dad returned from surgery not only awake and alert, but lucid enough to joke with the nurse that what he’d really like in terms of pain medication was a beer (okay, to be honest, he referred to it as a “microbrew”). Shortly after that he was able to take himself to the bathroom. And by the evening, after he had devoured a dinner, we watched a very entertaining Seattle Mariners baseball game (and “entertaining” and “Seattle Mariners” have not been used in the same sentence much around here lately).

I took this picture with my borrowed cellphone, trying to capture some of the Bellevue city skyline behind us. My mom and I had walked across the street from the hospital to grab a bite to eat at Whole Foods. Having not been in Bellevue for well over a year, I was stunned by the changes.

Sitting between Melinda and me in this photo is Mia, one of our former students (from last century!!) at PSCS. It’s always so much fun to meet up with former students, seeing how they’ve blossomed as adults. How is it that they’ve gotten old enough to be called adults? To be married? And in some cases (not Mia’s), to have kids?

It’s crazy.

We sat near Mia at the wedding of Sorrel, another of our former students. This was a couple of weeks back, soon after we returned from France. Sorrel and her twin brother Gus were the first students ever enrolled at PSCS so seeing them both, and their parents, recently brought back a flood of memories.

One of these involved Chloe. She was a toddler when PSCS began and was often in the car when we were taking students places. One time, Gus, 13 at the time, kept trying to get her to talk to him. He said, “Say Gus, Chloe. Say Gus.” She sat stoically, saying nothing. Arriving at his house, he hopped out and ran up to his door. Immediately, Chloe said, “Bye, Gus.”

Speaking of Chloe, on Friday we deliver her to college. Does that mean that she, too, is blossoming as an adult?

Hmmm… How to make sense of this. Yes, that’s Ella on the left, posing next to our TV. We were watching a video (yes, a video as in V. H. S.) that my parents had created for her when she was probably 3 years old. We found it in a box in our basement. You see, Ella wanted to go through some old boxes to find photos and mementos to consider as decorations in her pending room remodel. And in one of the boxes was the old video tape.

The concept of the video was to feature a preschooler interacting with other characters, the preschooler considering different careers. The parents (or grandparents in this case) sent in a photo of the child that was manipulated to be superimposed in different scenes. So tonight we got to see Ella as a police officer, a firefighter, a teacher, the president, and in this picture, an artist.

Frankly, I didn’t know Ella had painted the Mona Lisa.

I apologize for the quality of the photo and am hoping it gives you a sense of how funny this was for us tonight. Oh, I chose to feature this photo over one of Ella as the president (or sliding into home as a professional baseball player) because of its French connection.

Let’s see, there’s got to be flour and butter and sugar. I know that. And blackberries, of course. Maybe some cinnamon and baking powder (because I always use those in my baking recipes). I heard lemon juice is useful. And then more sugar and butter. Lots of butter and sugar. And more blackberries.

What else?

Well, judging from this photo you need blackberry pickers. That’s Chloe’s friend Alex, there on the left. You may recall that he visited us in Nantes in May. In fact, he attends Quest University, the college to which we will be taking Chloe on Friday and for which Chloe and Melinda made a huge Costco trip today to pick up sundries and things. But sundries are not part of a blackberry pie recipe. And what I was trying to get at when I started this paragraph was the missing ingredient.

Friends. To fully have a good blackberry pie you need to share it with friends.

Last night we had dinner with Alex and his parents, they having invited us over. Deb, Alex’s mom, made an incredibly delicious blackberry pie using blackberries they had picked with Chloe yesterday morning.