Happy 50th!

My French "parents" celebrated their 50th anniversary today. It's a shame I couldn't be with them, but such is life. They were actually married on August 2; in a recent email, Papa reminded me that I became part of his family almost 25 years ago, in 1986. I met the Ducoulombier family through the Nacel educational exchange program, and had originally been slated to stay with the Ganachaud family. As it turned out, fortune conspired against that meeting, and I was shunted to the Ducoulombiers. They turned out to be a very open and loving family, and we've been in touch ever since. Papa has four sons: François, Damien, Xavier, and Dominique. The latter two have spent a month at our house in northern Virginia; all four sons are married and have plenty of kids. I can only imagine how huge this get-together must have been. Happy 50th anniversary, Maman et Papa!


_