Another year ended and what a strange one. I spent six months sweltering under a Middle Eastern Sun; I may not have enjoyed it, but it has changed the way I look at the world. People everywhere simply want to get on with their lives – some wear veils, others think cows are sacred. None of it really matters. If you like a person, you like a person.
On a visit home in June, my father died. Only months later did we get these images, mostly from my parents’ 50th wedding anniversay in 2002. In there are my father’s cousin Una, who grew up with the Naughtons and knows more about the family than any sane person should, and lifetime friends Suzanne and Andre, who met my mother during her time with the World Health Organisation in Geneva. Down the years, Suzanne and Andre were all too often called upon to bail out the next generation of our family (usually me, but also David and John – he’s the handsome one posing with my mother!) on various adventures in France.
Now Meabh, Ian and Max (with Mariana in the picture with his grandad) live in France – we have a native French speaker in the family.
So despite the sadness of losing our dad, there have been plenty of good times – and more to come. Here’s to 2007!
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