page 37 Denouement of Criss Crossing the Ocean

When returned to the United States it was to a different state. While we were in France, my father had moved the family to Maryland. The photos taken of our trip were developed in a lab, then placed in an album where our memories were preserved for future recounting. 

Over the coming years, we remained connected to our French family. We witnessed our cousins growing up in photographs and stayed connected to their lives through letters and phone calls. In the ensuing decades, it became a tradition to make alternating transatlantic visits to our loved ones. 

Even though in the following decades we all made transatlantic visits there were never enough.
In 2003 it had been 21 years, since I last visited France. I returned this time with my teenage daughter, Daniella. I regret not making the effort to visit as a young adult for I would have had a better chance of mastering the language and forming stronger bonds. 

Retracing my steps down the narrow, winding streets of Avignon in 2012 with my husband Alex brought back memories of that idyllic summer of ’62—this despite the fact that most the family had relocated elsewhere in France. Back then, Grandpère had 13 grandchildren. 

In the present, the family has grown through marriages, births, and adoptions to 40 descendants on both sides of the Atlantic. Standing alongside the beautiful, enduring buildings of the old city center, I paid silent tribute to that culture which my mother had so generously instilled in her offspring.

Sandra Olmsted Moreano
March 2024