Welcome Home!

My aunt Clare Marie lives in Africa. She has just moved from the Congo to Cameroon (or at least she will be there soon). Meanwhile she is home for a visit! Aunt Clare Marie comes home about every 3 years -- last time she was home, Rob and I got married. As Clare Marie said, we timed the wedding very conveniently -- and even planned the color scheme around her: She wears habits of beige and browns and chocolate brown was one of the main colors of our wedding.

Now she's here in time to meet Madeleine. Ironically, Clare Marie was just moving out of Cameroon in 1978 and on her last day at the convent, she received a letter from her mother telling her of my birth. Then 30 some odd years later, she had just arrived in Cameroon when she received an email telling her of Madeleine's birth. We've decided she either needs to stay in Cameroon until Rob and I have decided we're done having kids, or we'll have to plan something for 2 years from now when she'll be likely to visit again! Meanwhile, here's a picture of Madeleine meeting her Aunt:



The woman on the left is Sr. Frances, a dear friend of the family and my Sophomore English teacher at Mount Saint Mary's. I loved having Sr. Frances for a teacher. Oh, she was tough, but she was fascinating. She introduced me to some of my favorite books including Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and Jane Eyre. She also made us memorize "The Quality of Mercy" speech from Merchant of Venice and used to quiz us if she bumped into us in the hallway. Scarily enough (she did not teach me grammar), she also remembered that I got a 95 in English that year -- which she told Maddie she will have to do as well. It was so cool to see Sr. Frances and it reminded me that I need to keep up my studies (and my grammar).