Year End Reflection

Each month of December I reflect on the past year. These are my thoughts for 2008.

We are now approaching the end of another year and with each passing day
I look back and smile. I should be feeling old but on the contrary I
feel young. While life hasn't been easy, it's been good and I'm very
thankful for that.

My children are happy and independent. The twins Samantha and Michael
are 20 and doing well in college. Sam is studding English and Spanish
with an interest in tourism; Michael is in his last year in
international commerce (import-export). Their older sister Jennifer is
30 and has been living in New Zealand for three years. She works in the
computer department of Air New Zealand. She is very independent love
travelling. Jessica, the middle one, is 25 and has her own apartment,
which she shares with her boyfriend. She works as a personal assistant
for an international cosmetic firm. My husband Paul works as a ticket
agent for Air France and will be retiring at the end of next year after
39 and a half years of loyal service.

My French fiancé proposed to me on 26 years ago on Christmas 1972.
Everyone in my family thought I was making a terrible mistake, that my
marriage would never work because of cultural differences, etc. We went
from pen pals (he was my high school pen pal) to future husband and
wife, but it was as if we had always known each other, as if we had
been brought back together to continue our relationship after a very
long absence. In the end I realized that my marriage wouldn't fail
because it never really ended. It was a meeting of lost two soul mates.
The irony is that all those who insisted that my marriage would fail had
failed marriages themselves later on. My parents were sure I would have
problems, and so did my parents-in-law, who were a bit old-fashioned and
didn't speak a word of English, but for some reason neither ever
step in. They understood we knew exactly what we were doing,
especially me, as I had a somewhat sheltered life due to my hearing
disability.

In April 2009 Paul and I will celebrate 35 years of marriage and 41
years since we "met" through our letters. My first years of life in
France were difficult, but I got through them through sheer will power
and perseverance, because I was meant to. When I look back on all those
years, I smile, because they did much to help me learn about my real
self, and how much I was capable of accomplishing.

The French are really nice people once you get to know them, and very
open minded and curious. They're not interested in one's lifestyle, one's
salary or one's religious beliefs. But they do like to know what makes a
person tick, to use that expression, what one is interested in and how
one got where he/she is at present. America holds an absolute
fascination for the French, and for the rest of Europe for that matter;
American multimedia, television and cinema are extremely popular. Many
American stars know they can be assured of instant success just by
showing up to promote their movies, songs, etc.

Another year is about to pass and as I look back I'm assured of having
done the very best possible to make my family happy and fulfilled, both
together and individually, and for that I have no regrets and am proud
of my past accomplishments.

©Joanne Pons, December 2008