Today is very, very sad day for me. And while I could go on and on about the difficult time we've had figuring out everything French, we have had a HUGE resource helping us navigate through many of the details. Let me introduce you to Miss E. Miss E is the US Navy pilot who has for the last three years had the job Phil will now have for the next three years. She is known to many in my family as Phil's "predecessor". And while that name was fine for her while we were emailing back and forth from the States, now that we know her, and have spent the last 18 days with her, we are definitely on a first name basis! Miss E picked us up (with our 12 gi-normous bags, crying kids, and dog) from the train station in Hyeres. She has been with us from our first moments here. She took us to the grocery store for the first time (and watched me hold back tears). She helped us break the code of French banking (and celebrated with us when we got our "RIB"). She set up our first cell phone for us. She held our hand through the lively and crowded Saturday morning market (and pointed out her favorite vendors...aka the "nice" ones.) And in the midst of helping us through our drama, she was trying to organize and coordinate her own trans-Atlantic move back to the US. She gave us so much of her time and availability, I know she wasn't able to tie up all the loose ends she had planned to. We will be forever grateful for every second she spent with us.
So I'm sad that she's leaving because she is a wealth of information, who can translate for me, who can answer my questions, and who can give us directions anywhere...but more than that I really will miss HER! We became fast friends and she is truly someone I would love to get to know even more. Miss E is an athlete far beyond my abilities (she's completed two Ironman Triathlons and 20+ marathons), but she ran with me and introduced me to some good routes throughout the city. She put up our crying, tired, wild children...and genuinely connected with them. Lily is going to be lost without her beloved Miss E, as she was someone fun to talk to other than boring and omnipresent Mom and Dad. And Zachary always put on his flirting eyes when she was around...even taking his eyes off his baguette for a couple of seconds.
Today she takes the train from Hyeres to Paris. And in a couple days she will return to the US. I hope three years from now we can be as helpful, as encouraging, and as available to the next stunned, overwhelmed person/family walking off that train.
A bientot, Miss E. And if your other higher paying, more exciting gigs don't work out, remember the offer to be my paid friend/French teacher/running coach will ALWAYS be on the table! You are wonderful.
So I'm sad that she's leaving because she is a wealth of information, who can translate for me, who can answer my questions, and who can give us directions anywhere...but more than that I really will miss HER! We became fast friends and she is truly someone I would love to get to know even more. Miss E is an athlete far beyond my abilities (she's completed two Ironman Triathlons and 20+ marathons), but she ran with me and introduced me to some good routes throughout the city. She put up our crying, tired, wild children...and genuinely connected with them. Lily is going to be lost without her beloved Miss E, as she was someone fun to talk to other than boring and omnipresent Mom and Dad. And Zachary always put on his flirting eyes when she was around...even taking his eyes off his baguette for a couple of seconds.
Today she takes the train from Hyeres to Paris. And in a couple days she will return to the US. I hope three years from now we can be as helpful, as encouraging, and as available to the next stunned, overwhelmed person/family walking off that train.
A bientot, Miss E. And if your other higher paying, more exciting gigs don't work out, remember the offer to be my paid friend/French teacher/running coach will ALWAYS be on the table! You are wonderful.
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