The Events of Friday, April 22, 2011

                My foot stuck out from underneath my comforter. I heard footsteps and then a hand reached over and tickled my foot. I suppressed a giggle because I was trying to pretend that I was still asleep. I’m not too good of an actress in bed. Giving up the act, I woke up and packed up my suitcase and backpack contents that were still strewn all over the floor because I had been too tired and sick to clean them up yesterday. I went out into the living room and helped Daddy make a breakfast of French toast in our gite (or vacation home) in France! Over breakfast, I found out that my companions in the club of sickness felt the same as I did – pretty much better with only queasy stomachs at times. After devotions on this Good Friday, we showered and then loaded up the car. Before leaving, we sat a little in our private backyard, surrounded by wisteria and lilacs, two of my favorite flowers. We took a couple of sprigs of lilacs to freshen up our car and then climbed into the car. We had bought a lot of groceries which we thought we were going to eat until four of us got sick and then, well, we didn’t eat all that much. Ben placed himself in the crammed and squished back to protect himself from catching our germs, and prepared for falling groceries each time we went around a turn. The girls were in the second row and Mom and Dad were in the front as we headed to a town called Valroufié, France.

                I don’t know if it was just the effects of sickness, but we were laughing most of the way to Valroufié. It started when we set our GPS on “no toll roads” and we found ourselves at a toll booth. We pulled over right before the booth and consulted Gypsy (our GPS) on what to do. She told us to turn left onto an exit on the other side of the freeway. However, the sign in front of us said no left turn. After watching another car turn left, we decided to risk it. We headed left. After a little while we were told to take another illegal left turn. We did that one too. Delighted at our mischief, we vroom-ed on towards Valroufié. After all, in France, traffic signs seem to be just suggestions.

                Gypsy led us down cute tree lined lanes and through little stone towns with their own markets that no tourist has probably ever seen before. We passed around the computer, and tried to read. I was starting to read Romeo and Juliet. Lindsey took one glance at the front cover and went crazy about how cute the “Romeo” on the cover was. I tried to tell her it was just a painting, but she didn’t listen to me. She just babbled on and on, trying to pinch his little paper cheeks. She will probably deny it all now, but we were pretty loopy for the whole drive. We stopped to buy some fresh bread and then headed on, stopping a little later for lunch. About 3:30, we reached the neighbourhood of our house. Trying frantically to understand our directions, we accidentally ran a red light. Oh well, what’s a third illegal thing in one day. We turned onto the bendy road that led to the old stone farmhouse with blue shutters that would be our home for the next three days.

                We found the interior of the farmhouse very cozy, with stone walls and a wooden ceiling. There was a large living room/ dining room/ huge kitchen. Branching off of this are two bedrooms and a bathroom. The kids’ bedroom is down some stairs in what looks like a former root cellar. Only there is a door out to the ground level. Mom was delighted because we now have a huge kitchen plus a washer and dryer (all in the same machine).  I was excited because we have a pool, even though it was freezing cold outside and we weren’t allowed to swim in it. After exploring our new surroundings and moving in a bit, Daddy and I headed out to shop for some dish soap and a special water softener we needed for the washing/dryer machine while Mom started laundry. At the grocery store we bought some laundry soap and a container of lemon dish soap. I love lemon soap! At home we found dinner already sizzling. Sausages, apples and onions are probably my favorite meal in Europe because we don’t have tacos or brownies. Over dinner Lindsey went off on this whole thing about this guy who was so smelly and she had to sit next to him in sixth grade and she always tried to scoot her chair away from him because he was so annoying. Suddenly she looked up and totally forgot the point she was trying to make. She said, “I forgot what I was going to say. It is just at the back of my throat.” That made us laugh all the more, even Daddy had tears in his eyes. Lindsey laughed along with us, but kept asking why we were laughing. It took quite a time to calm down enough to tell her that the saying is, “It’s on the tip of my tongue”, NOT the back of the throat‼ We laughed and then finished dinner with apple tart. After clean up, we got ready for bed and then read the story of Good Friday from the gospel of Matthew. Thinking about this beautiful but sad story, we headed off to bed, looking forward to its happy ending on Sunday.