Discovering another part of me

For those of you who do not know my family history, I'm going to tell you a little bit of background. My grandfather was in the military waaaaaaayyy back in the day and when he was stationed in France, he met my grandmother, Annick. They ended up getting married and he broght her back to the States. When my mom was a young child, my grandmother passed away so I never met her and my mom doesnt remember that much about life with her. But, my mom's oldest brother was old enough at the time to have more memories of her and has been our main source of information about who my grandmother was as a person.

My grandmother was the third of four siblings and was the only one who left France. So growing up I always knew about my French family but it was something like a fairy tale to me. The collection of stories, names, photos, cities, and towns all fored this collage of a family that existed somewhere in a far off land. So, coming to France for the first time, I am finally able to look my great uncles and aunt in the eye. It allows me to connect with my grandmother and essentially with part of myself that before was obscure.

My uncle came to Europe to take me around to meet as much of the family as possible and our first stop was my grandmother's older brother, my uncle Jean-Marie. He lives with his wife Nicole in a beautiful house in the south of France. While we were there, his daughter, Marie Helen was there as well.

When we got there, we were kind of hungry so my uncle Jean Marie fired up his oven and made us some pizza which we ate with Rose (the pink colored wine). While he was making the pizzas I asked if at some point I could help him make a pizza, and the next day I was able to learn to make it! AAaaaaaaaannnnnd the following day he let me make one on my own! It was probably some of the best pizza I've had!

On the second day that we were there, my cousin took us to Les Arc which is an ooooold village that most of the buildings are now expensive rental homes and a hotel. The village was so beautiful though. It was up on a hill that over looked a town (I think the town of Les Arc) with narrow cobblestone streets and buildings older than the United States probably.

For the most part, we all just sat around and talked with each other. I told them about my Europe adventures and plans for Spain and I was able to see pictures of more cousins of mine. It was just really nice to be with family and enjoy the company.