French la Vie

 

French Husband sent me this snapchat photo of Sacha standing inside our fountain. The two of them scrubbed it cleaned today, it is home to twenty goldfish. For those of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning of time you might recall the stone fountain story, and how we came to have ten goldfish. The story of how we came to adopt ten extra goldfish takes place in 2009.

But before I reblog the story of the goldfish, today I had lunch with Tessa, and right before I met her French Husband sent me a snapchat of Sacha, "We are cleaning the fountain," he wrote.

Such a coincidence!

 

The Story of Tessa

(We met through my cousin Sandra)

 

 

I am an American woman living in France.
Tessa is French woman living in America.

 

 

 

 

Tessa grew up in a small town in the country.
I grew up in a small town in the country.

 

Her parents were bilingual. My parents were bilingual.

 

I have lived in France, for over twenty years.
Tessa has lived Stateside, for over twenty years.

 

 

 

 

 

Tessa is an  uncommon name for a French girl.
Corey is an uncommon name for an American girl.

 

I am a shorter than the average American woman.
Tessa is a taller than the average French woman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have two children: A girl (27) and a boy (25).
Tessa has two children: A girl (26) and a boy (24).

I am married to a French man.
Tessa is married to an American man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had cancer.
Tessa had cancer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both love family, home and decorating with old things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I live forty minutes away from where she grew up in France.
Tessa lives forty minutes away from where I grew up in California.

 

Tessa's family lives in France.

My family lives in California.

 

 

 

 

My father passed away and shortly after we adopted her father's goldfishes, he passed away.

 

 

 

 

 

When we met in 2009 we discovered we had much in common, and had a great deal to talk about because of it.

 

What it is to leave behind everything you love and cherish, to follow your heart to love and cherish.

 

 

 

 

 

Years ago, her father built her a stone fountain in her garden.
Years ago, we built a stone fountain in our garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Her father had goldfish that are ten years old.
We had goldfish that are ten years old.

 

 

 

 

Tessa's father was worried, as he was very ill, that his goldfish would be left alone…

 

 

 

 

He asked his daughter, "Didn't you say, you knew of a woman, who lives near me, who has a fountain with goldfish?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tessa wrote me.

We adopted Tessa's dad's ten goldfish.

And they have lived happily ever since.

 

Destiny.

 

Thank you for meeting me for lunch Tessa.

xoxo