05 March 2013

Soixante-quatre

This is what I'll call a "blind" post. That's on the model of a "mute" post, which contains a picture but no words. This one doesn't include any photos.

Soixante-quatre is my age, and today is my birthday. I don't really have much to say about it but I thought I'd mention it anyway, since Facebook has probably told many of you that my birthday is this week.

Soixante-quatre isn't particularly a milestone birthday, but for me it is in one sense. My father died at 64. If I live until Thanksgiving 2013, I will have lived longer than he did. It's something to think about. One of my grandfathers lived to be 70, but the other died when he was 39. The good news is that my mother is still living and in her 80s (her mother never saw 50). I hope that living to a ripe old age doesn't, as Ma said to me once, "skip a generation."

I'm thinking in decades this morning. It's 2013 and Walt and I have been living in France for nearly 10 years. In March 2003, we had sold our house in San Francisco and had to turn in the keys by March 21. That meant all our furniture and other belongings had to be packed up and taken out of the house. We managed it, and were getting ready to be temporarily homeless before closing the deal on the house over here. The move to France would mark our 20th anniversary together.

Ten years earlier, in 1993, we were living in Silicon Valley and were planning our 10th anniversary. It would be a trip to... guess where... France. Provence, in fact, which is where I started in France, in 1970. And it would be the first time we rented a house to stay in over here, rather than going to a hotel. If we hadn't enjoyed that experience so much, who knows where we would be today. We made the trip to France at least once a year for vacations and other events between 1993 and 2003.

In 1983, we had recently moved to Washington DC from... guess where... Paris. That's where we met. We didn't return to France until 1988, and even then it was through a series of circumstances — it was a work trip that brought us back here, and we had a series of work trips to France over the next five years, both through my job and Walt's. Again, if all that hadn't happened, I don't know when we might have come back to France, or where we'd be living today. In California, I guess.

We've now lived in France for more than a third of the time we've been together. We lived in California longer. Before I pass on, I'd like to be able to say we've lived in France a longer time than any place else.

I've flown across the Atlantic approximately 75 times in my life. I know it's an odd number (I mean not an even number) because I started in America and now I'm here. I hope that from now on it will always be an odd number of flights.

P.S. We're having duck and beans for my birthday lunch.

33 comments:

  1. I love your memory lane of years and numbers. Happy Birthday, dear friend! To many, many more! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheerful birthday wishes coming across the Atlantic to you from British Columbia!

    ~Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thinking of you on your ducky day! May you celebrate many more birthdays and get your wish of spending most of your life in France. xo
    me

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy birthday Ken and many, many, many returns of the day. Life in France is definitely agreeing with you! Enjoy your day and your lunch, which will be excellent, I'm sure! Big hug, Martine

    ReplyDelete
  5. As you're in France celebrating your special day, it's a 'joyeux anniversaire' from us.

    Gaynor and Tim

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy birthday. Enjoy yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Birthday Ken... and many more of course. Given that you're living in a country with one of the highest standards of living and very decent health care, I'm expecting another 64.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I always love to read your post's on the other St Aignan, Happy Birthday to you, (we are the same age) and many more happy years in France for you and Walt

    ReplyDelete
  9. Have a very happy day... the pair of you!
    As a Vulcan said... "Live long and Prosper!" Ken....
    and the Beatles wrote you a song...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Birthday Ken - enjoy your 'special day'

    Carol & Michael

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy birthday. I have been following your blog since around this time last year, when planning a wonderful holiday in St Aignan (last September) on my fourth visit to France. Back in my little corner of (hot, dry) Australia, I have enjoyed watching the seasons change through your photos and seeing a different perspective of some of the beautiful places we experienced, remembering the great food, remaining connected. Your blog fills me with real joy, thank you, and I wish you many more years living the life...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Best wishes from Down Under. It is very interesting to follow the lives of two Americans in France.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ah, that was a fun post, full of good memories :)

    Happy Birthday to you, Ken!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy Happy Birthday to you Ken!! Have a wonderful day and enjoy your birthday lunch....and be careful of those sixty-four lit candles...smile.
    May you be blessed with many more birthdays.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I haven't read your posts for a while...what a perfect time to return! Happy birthday Ken, and best wishes to you and Walt for many more decades together enjoyed in good health in France. Cheers, Louise

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy birthday Ken!
    (I wouldn't know how many times I flew over the Atlantic but 75 times is really amazing).
    Glad you are enjoying France so much, and France enjoying both of you as much as we all do from all over the world.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Happy Birthday, Ken! May you have decades of happiness ahead of you, in France with Walt........

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are finally as old as I! Happy Birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Happy birthday Ken, and many more of them too !!
    I hope you enjoy your birthday lunch - I bet it's no ordinary duck and look forward to reading all about it !!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, have a wonderful day!
    Best wishes,
    Ivan

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy Birthday, Ken! We're wishing you years and years of happiness in France and with Walt.

    Duck 'n' beans sounds like a perfect celebration dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Like Anna said, your blog brings me real joy and also France which is always near my heart.

    I remember your double nickel birthday well- I can't believe that was nine years ago already! So glad that you're well at 64. Happy happy birthday, to you!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Glad that today I had the time to read your blog (I've been working).
    Happy Birthday! So glad that I found yours and then Walt's blog!
    Celebrate in a Grand Style - and I wish you many more happy celebrations.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Happy Birthday Ken and may you have many more! :-) Enjoy that duck!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ken, having seen you and Walt a couple of times over the past two years, I'm pleased to say that you both look fit and healthy. Those daily walks with the dog, eating great home-cooked meals, and living away from high density, noisy urban centers all contribute to a healthy lifestyle. In other words, you look marvelous.

    And happy 64th. You're still 4 months behind me.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I hope it was a great birthday from beginning to end. Best wishes for many, many more. You and Walt have been moving toward a life in France for a long time indeed. One thing leads to another, and another...

    ReplyDelete
  27. Homeless? Merci, mon cher.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Cheryl, you were a good friend to put us up (or put up with us) for those weeks. Ta maison Ă©tait notre maison, provisoirement, but still, we didn't own or have a lease... Now it's a very good memory.

    Thanks for the birthday wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wow, you were all lurking back there! Thanks for the good wishes, all of you. This is the beauty of blogging. Bises all around, Ken

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous Ă  me dire ?