French la Vie https://www.frenchlavie.com French la Vie Wed, 05 Aug 2026 21:56:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://www.frenchlavie.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/poppy-1-150x150.png French la Vie https://www.frenchlavie.com 32 32 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/06/hellos-and-goodbyes/ Hellos and Goodbyes https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966899021/0/tongueincheek~Hellos-and-Goodbyes/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966899021/0/tongueincheek~Hellos-and-Goodbyes/#respond Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:00:02 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85931                

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 ]]> The leaving.

It asks more of me now

the goodbye pierce heavier 

This time, something happened that caught me off guard.

I cried in the airport.

Uncontrollably.
I remembered.

The first time I left home for France.

I cried so hard I could barely board the plane. Once I was in my seat, before takeoff, a flight attendant came over and gently asked if I was all right, if I wanted to get off.

Forty years later.

The arrivals and departure no longer travel alone. They carry everything
that came in between.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966899021/0/tongueincheek~Hellos-and-Goodbyes/feed/ 0 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/05/family-and-faith/ Family and Faith https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966447533/0/tongueincheek~Family-and-Faith/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966447533/0/tongueincheek~Family-and-Faith/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2026 02:00:20 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85925 In the wooden pews In the candlelight.In the slow ribbon of incense rising  Faces I have loved since childhood.Hands reaching.Nods across the aisle. A sacred silence. Every word finding its place. Felt the presence of those who knelt here years ago.Grandparents.Aunts.Uncles.Cousins.Neighbors.Entire lives folded into this place-  woven through decades. Distance has measured my years.Another country.Another language.Another […]]]>


In the wooden pews 
In the candlelight.
In the slow ribbon of incense rising 

Faces I have loved since childhood.
Hands reaching.
Nods across the aisle.

A sacred silence.

Every word finding its place.

Felt the presence of those who knelt here years ago.
Grandparents.
Aunts.
Uncles.
Cousins.
Neighbors.
Entire lives folded into this place- 

woven through decades.

Distance has measured my years.
Another country.
Another language.
Another life.

Even so…

One step through those church doors and the thread remained un-torn.

Perhaps that is what stayed with me.

The feeling that a life is never held by one person alone.

It rests in many hands.
Many hearts.
Many voices answering together.

A beautiful inheritance

In memory of my cousin Frances

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966447533/0/tongueincheek~Family-and-Faith/feed/ 9 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/04/youre-the-flower-in-my-garden-of-life-unknown/ “You’re the flower in my garden of life.” – Unknown https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966157889/0/tongueincheek~%e2%80%9cYou%e2%80%99re-the-flower-in-my-garden-of-life%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-Unknown/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966157889/0/tongueincheek~%e2%80%9cYou%e2%80%99re-the-flower-in-my-garden-of-life%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-Unknown/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:00:35 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85918 ]]> ]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/966157889/0/tongueincheek~%e2%80%9cYou%e2%80%99re-the-flower-in-my-garden-of-life%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-Unknown/feed/ 2 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/03/the-cookie-maker/ The Cookie Maker https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965946950/0/tongueincheek~The-Cookie-Maker/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965946950/0/tongueincheek~The-Cookie-Maker/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:00:28 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85908 My mother has always been a baker. There were pies cooling on the counter, cakes with candles, popcorn balls wrapped for little hands, and cookies— The recipe begins the way it always has. Two cups of flour, sifted. Nothing rushed,  nothing guessed. She reaches for the same bowl, the same measuring cups she has had […]]]>

My mother has always been a baker.

There were pies cooling on the counter, cakes with candles, popcorn balls wrapped for little hands, and cookies—

The recipe begins the way it always has.

Two cups of flour, sifted.

Nothing rushed, 

nothing guessed.

She reaches for the same bowl, the same measuring cups she has had for as long as I can remember. I can still picture them in the drawer when I was a child, their familiar clink against one another, dusted with flour, their edges softened by years of butter, and sugar.

Now she is ninety.

She moves more slowly. The butter takes longer to cream. The eggs are cracked with greater care. She pauses between each ingredient before stirring them together.

The joy of watching my mom repeat the same familiar gestures for a lifetime. 

The way she levels the flour, folds in the chocolate chips, and scrapes every last bit of batter from the bowl.

Nothing hurried, 

nothing wasted.

The cookies emerge from the oven as they always have, golden at the edges, unmistakably hers.

A lifetime of devotion of doing one ordinary thing with love, over and over again.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965946950/0/tongueincheek~The-Cookie-Maker/feed/ 11 Weekly Top Posts: 2026-08-02https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965667836/0/tongueincheek<ol><li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/963194690/0/tongueincheek/~My-Mother%e2%80%99s-Garden">My Mother&#x2019;s Garden</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/963446786/0/tongueincheek/~My-Cousin-Chris%e2%80%99-Garden-Tips-for-Delicious-Vegetables">My Cousin Chris&#x2019; Garden Tips for Delicious Vegetables</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/962873087/0/tongueincheek/~The-Story-of-Blue-Willow">The Story of Blue Willow</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/963819908/0/tongueincheek/~Olivia%e2%80%99s-Drawing">Olivia&#x2019;s Drawing</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/962454125/0/tongueincheek/~Judy-Delicious">Judy Delicious</a></li> </ol><Img align="left" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="" style="border:0;float:left;margin:0;padding:0;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;" hspace="0" src="https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/i/965667836/0/tongueincheek"> Sun, 02 Aug 2026 04:00:01 GMTtag:feedblitz.com,2026-08-02:tongueincheek/2026-08-02T04:00:01-00:00 FeedSplice by FeedBlitz https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/02/the-pickles-adventure/ The Pickles Adventure https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965667839/0/tongueincheek~The-Pickles-Adventure/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965667839/0/tongueincheek~The-Pickles-Adventure/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2026 02:00:48 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85893 Zip lining is one of those experiences that makes children feel like they’re flying, and their parents wide eyed on their every move. Safely secured by a harness to a sturdy cable, they glide through the air, soaring past the trees with the wind on their faces! The Pickles on vacation in the French Alps.]]>

Zip lining is one of those experiences that makes children feel like they’re flying, and their parents wide eyed on their every move. Safely secured by a harness to a sturdy cable, they glide through the air, soaring past the trees with the wind on their faces!

The Pickles on vacation in the French Alps.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965667839/0/tongueincheek~The-Pickles-Adventure/feed/ 3 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/08/01/the-black-dress/ The Black Dress https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965232470/0/tongueincheek~The-Black-Dress/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965232470/0/tongueincheek~The-Black-Dress/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2026 02:00:26 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85890 Whenever I travel back home, a black dress finds its place in my suitcase. Returning to my hometown means stepping into a place where every life touches another. A new baby arrives. Two hands join. A table fills. A chair sits empty. People gather for every chapter, carrying casseroles, flowers, homegrown vegetables, stories, familiar glances. […]]]>

Whenever I travel back home, a black dress finds its place in my suitcase.

Returning to my hometown means stepping into a place where every life touches another. A new baby arrives. Two hands join. A table fills. A chair sits empty. People gather for every chapter, carrying casseroles, flowers, homegrown vegetables, stories, familiar glances.

The black dress waits, ready for the moments no one places on a calendar. It comes with respect. Presence. Compassion.

Each gathering reminds me that a family is measured by being there. Faces change. Generations shift. Names become memories spoken aloud across folding tables, church pews, front yards.

The black dress is folded between my other clothes and packed once more into my suitcase for the journey home.

It is never the dress I wish to wear.

Still, it travels between homes.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/965232470/0/tongueincheek~The-Black-Dress/feed/ 3