Sunday night
July 30, 2006 at 14:26 Finally the heat has broken. Temps hit 68 degrees today, and we had the kind of gentle steady rain Belgium is known for. The plants and flowers lifted their wilted heads and the browning lawn revived and smiled.
The curtain has drawn on a memorable week here at Chez V. With Lynn and her children visiting, our house has buzzed with a happy, easy vibe.
Her daughter and mine, ages 7 and 8, have spent every waking moment side by side, writing, drawing, playing school, sharing clothes, and combing each other’s hair. Mr. A, teetering on 11, took Lynn’s son little T, a rising kindergartener, under his wing. Together they retreated to the basement to make swords, catapults, and bows and arrows. They flew Mr. A’s planes, watched videos together, and caught lots of bugs and one lizard.
I will always remember how full my heart felt, walking behind the girls who were happily hand in hand, and seeing my big tall son and little T also holding hands as they navigated new and familiar places together.
All week Lynn read to the kids, hers and mine. I know mine will always remember hearing a chapter of Harry Potter at bedtime, and her tireless reading of several Geronimo Stilton books in the van.
We chugged all over Belgium in the Espace, visiting castles, windmills, a living history museum, underground caverns, playgrounds, parks, and a swimming pool. We drank bottle after bottle of water in the heat, and sampled Belgian cuisine—Speculoos cookies, Cote D’Or chocolate, gauffre (waffles), croissant and pain chocolat, and lots and lots of frites.
Yesterday Lynn and I stumbled upon an exclusive perfume factory in the citadel in Namur and treated ourselves to the same spicy oriental scent and bought our girls matching bottles of cologne. The charming young man who waited on us remembered we were from Virginia and introduced us to another pair of women in the store who were also from Virginia. Chit-chatting with the women, we discover we all went to the same small college and one of the women now lives in Brussels, not far from me. She and I exchanged cards and e-mail addresses and plan to get in touch.
Tomorrow Lynn and the children will return to the States, E will return to work, the Espace will be returned to Europcar, and the kids and I will be left with lots of photos, happy memories, and time to savor them.
July 30, 2006
Reader Comments (4)
So cool, too, that you met another local from Virginia!
I'm between American guests at the moment, having had a fabulous time with ML and Al, and looking forward to a new guest next month.
Summer eh ... who would have believed THIS was possible back in January.