Gli amici!

It is difficult for me to believe that Maria Elena and I have been friends for almost 20 years! It seems like just yesterday when I moved into her apartment in Milan where we listened to Gino Paoli every morning on the cassette player as we got ready to go to work together at NCR. I was doing my internship for my Master in International Business and Maria Elena was a bonafide NCR Finance & Admistration employee. Our mutual F&A boss, Wilfred Hofmans, had suggested that we room together, and voila, a friendship was born! Over the years, Maria Elena and I have kept in touch and seen each other a few times as we made our way in the world...As you all know, I ended up in the South of France with my family. Meanwwhile Maria Elena and her family have been living outside of Paris for the past decade. What a small, wonderful world that has afforded us to visit each other more regularly since we are all in France!

At the end of May, Maria Elena brought her family, Olivier and their precious daughter, Laetitia, to Eygalieres for a long weekend. My girls and Laetitia share a mutual admiration of each other, so we were all excited about the weekend. We basically spent our time together walking through the village, playing at the park, visiting with each other, relaxing and of course, eating and drinking and being merry! Our new kitty, Fanny, was a huge hit with Laetitia and we all had lots of fun with the multiple languages we used during the weekend that included English, French, Italian, and Laetitia's language that only sweet, smart, bi-lingual, perfect toddlers can have! A favorite phrase is "Ca di da?" which we all quickly learned means "What is that?" Depending on who answered, the response was in English, French or Italian...and she always understood! She definitely inherited her mother's amazing language skills! Lucky her.

We loved having them visit and look forward to seeing them again soon. We are so lucky to have such great friends and it will be fun to see how our daughters make their way in the world as friends as well.


Friends at the top of Eygalieres....