Post Post Script

January 12, 2015 - After a number of weeks to celebrate the holidays and to be with friends and family, I have had some time to think about our recent trip across the pond.

Here are some things that are still front and centre in my mind.

I have photos from Chester on my desktop images streaming past. I see the photo from the front window of what was Belle and Fanny's home looking towards the river and the "tower" and think of the lovely watercolour painted by Fanny Gray that now will be back where it was first painted all those years ago. It was surely given to my Mom as a gift to remind her of that place and time.

And I also think of my Dad coming home to see us from his duties in The War. I think of my Mom being quite lonely without him during that 5-year period. I know there were wives in other parts of the world who didn't get the occasional visits from their husbands. And I know that some of those wives never got to see their husbands again. But my memories are of my Mom and Dad.

It was very moving, and still is, to have had a meal at Blossoms where they celebrated their wedding.

All in all, Chester was very special. Our new friends Chris and Maria, were so welcoming. I can't thank them enough.

The whole visit to As and Opglabbeek was just wonderful. Our friends were so welcoming and warm. I am just so happy for them all with the book and its reception. Being able to be there for the launch and to be signing those books was very special. Our family has now connected with a far away country in a way that might never have happened with out the urging of a couple of hero-worshipping cousins. This was my third trip there - one with my husband Bill in 2010, one with my daughter Holly in 2013, and now with my sister Louise in 2014. The first 2 were eye-opening and this last one was filled with so much warmth and many hugs for which I am so grateful.

Going to Luxembourg again was personally very warm and memorable as well. To see the Christmas Market, to see the wonderful city in its decorative finest, to see very good old friends again was great.

As Weese and I flew home on November 27 and we were getting close to Montreal, she got up and gave me a hug to say goodbye. She said there might not be a chance to do that in the airport as our connections were very close. We both had a tear or two.

And I remembered that November 27, 1994 - 20 years to the day - was when our Mom died. I expect we were both thinking of that.