This family's minority, the Parents .
. . .
On the right, here we are at Zelda's in Capitola on Mother's Day in
2004. While the
children grow up, the parents grow older!
The key word is "minority." There are six children,
and two parents. When the children were all under eleven or twelve years old, we
had some chance of imposing our view of the world in an unambiguous manner. But
the older our adolescents get, the more they realize that they can dispute and
question our authority. And they do, in spades.
Charles and Alex also tend to follow their much admired
older siblings' example, to
our great dismay because we then confront a kind of pre-adolescence at a younger age
with Charles and Alex.
Circumstances require that we remain zen, as much as
possible. Marie-Hélène does pretty well at that,
as you can see in the photo below. It was taken in July 2005 during the annual
visit of Faby and Jean and their now four children. Zen was a necessity!
Here is
a picture of large numbers of the two families taken the same day.
Needless to say,
the two of us don't spend a lot of time together, just the two of us. Maman
spends most of her time looking after the children, and papa spends most of
his time working.
Vacations do offer us some relief. Below on the
right, a "bisou" during our long summer vacation in
2004 at
La Grée. Special days are also
much anticipated, Christmas,
Halloween, Thanksgiving and the like.
On the left, exchanging a few words at a Happy Valley School fete, in
1999.
Over the years, we've arrived at a solid working relationship, which does
sound businesslike, because managing this household has a lot in common with
running a business. But we do share more than our duties, and over the years
have developed a complicity based on humor and a mutual recognition of who is
the boss! Anyone care to guess who that is?
The older children all call us the "parents" when referring to the two of us.
It is a shorthand way of avoiding the inaccuracy of calling us mum and dad, when
we are, respectively, the mum of only two out of four and the dad of only two
out of four.
That we are the parents remains unambiguous, if more complex
because of our history.
By the end of 2007, we have each been parents for 20 years or more. With
Alex almost ten years old and Charlie twelve, we have several more years "on the job"
to look forward to. Wealth is measured in children and in health.
On the left, here we are at a pub during our 2007 summer vacation. Ron
Warrington took this one.
Click here for photos of Marie-Hélène and
here for photos of Ian. Here for more of Marie-Hélène,
and here for more of Ian.
Here we are at a party organized by
Marie-Hélène for Ian, on the occasion of
his 50th birthday, and here is the subject of one of our
regrettable differences of opinion!
Mostly, please
excuse us while we catch up on our sleep, an unending battle, at least until
recently! This one was taken in the air on
the way to Florida, summer 2000.
