Twins

During the hectic holiday season, my nephew Michael and his wife had twin boys.
Michael is in the Navy and Morgan has been in the Army Reserve, but recently had to take a leave of absence because of their daughter's medical issues.
These two already have a lot on their plate before the twins arrived. Their daughter Lydia, 3, has seizures that have interrupted her development. She doesn't talk at all but she's very sweet and goes to some amazing specialists to help her accomplish as much as possible.
Their daughter Lorelei, who turned 1 in August, is a pistol.
And then on December 18, they had Liam and Lukas. Liam, only 4 pounds, came home just a few days after he was born, but Lukas, weighing in at 6 pounds, had some breathing issues so he stayed in the hospital until this week. That's a long time for identical twins to be separated.
Apparently, the boys are glad to be back together.
Here's a photo that my sister-in-law sent of the twins with their dad, my nephew.

My mother made the baby quilts behind them. 

Hoping for healthy children and an easier life for Michael and Morgan in the months and  years to come.

Dreaming of France -- I See London I See France

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Finally, my latest novel I See London I See France is available.
It's a fun, women's fiction novel with the exhaustion of mothering and a hint of romance.
Here's the blurb:

When her husband of a dozen years walks out in a huff, Caroline Sommers walks out too – to Europe, with her kids after impulsively selling her minivan for travel money. Tired of being the perfect wife, she escapes to rediscover herself, and possibly rekindle the unrequited love of a Frenchman from her college days.  While shepherding her kids from London to Scotland then Paris to Provence, she finds herself at a crossroads. Does she choose love, or lust, in the arms of a European man, or should she try again with the father of her children and the man she truly loved, once?

I wrote this book originally when the kids were little. It was my first novel, but I put it away. I've revised it a few times and I'm really happy with its latest revision. I added flashbacks throughout as the main character remembers her college crush with an older Frenchman Jean-Marc. Part of Caroline's quest through Europe is to learn whether she settled for the wrong man by marrying her husband.
And where did those ideas and feelings for Frenchman come from? My very own trip to France when I was 22.
I've sworn my kids to secrecy -- because we are still connected to the family in France-- but I had a major crush on one of the brothers.

This snapshot doesn't do justice to my French crush, but imagine learning to sail in the Mediterranean with a handsome French doctor. The character in my book is a little more extreme, but has a lot of the same yummy qualities. 

Here's a link to the paperback version of I see London I See France.

The Amazon link for a Kindle version at $4.99 is here, and the Nook link is here.

I hope  my book helps other to Dream of France too.

Can't wait to see what you post this week.

Out of the Loop

My youngest son, Tucker, claims we never tell him anything. He says he never knows what is going on in our house or our family. This summer, my daughter Grace starred in a production at the high school -- the high school where Tucker goes. The play was Emma and Grace was playing Emma. Apparently, Tucker missed the fact that Grace went to rehearsal every night and posters of her face were plastered around the city and in the newspaper. The newspapers lay on the dining room table for several days. The first night of the play, one of his friends said to Tucker, "Isn't your sister starring in that play?" And Tucker said, "I don't know." That's when the friend pointed out the poster. I don't think we, as a family, keep information from Tucker. I think he's in his own little world, playing video games or on the computer or hanging out with his friends or listening to music with his earbuds in. That's how he misses all the conversations. But, just to prove him wrong, I've been making an effort to make announcements to Tucker -- things like, we're going to Florida Labor Day weekend to take Spencer back to school, so he doesn't wake up one morning and wonder where everyone went. Today, when Tucker got home from school, my husband was stacking his camping gear in the corner of the dining room. I took one look at Tucker's face and rea
lized he didn't know Earl was going on a trip. "Dad's going camping in the morning," I told him. So he trundled across the dining room to give his Dad a hug before we left to buy new shoes and he headed out into the world that is a Friday night senior year of high school. Maybe Tucker doesn't need to know what's going on with our family all the time. Maybe it's just his way of starting to separate from us in preparation for his journey to college next year.

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day in the U.S.
Sure, it's a made-up holiday, but I'm especially grateful for the chance to celebrate today.
Four weeks ago tomorrow, my dad went to have his heart checked and the doctor sent him immediately to the hospital for surgery. He didn't want to do anything to risk the heart attack that he thought should have already occurred. Dad had a triple bypass and a new valve, and yesterday he and my mom arrived in Ohio, so I got to see them.
Other than the tracks of a scar up the middle of the chest, he seems like the same dad.
I filled out his father's day card this morning. It has a picture of a little girl's red sparkly shoe stepping on a man's shoe and it talks about memories.
To me, that shows our father-daughter relationship. He was big and safe. He'd take care of me.
Neither of us have been perfect in our roles, but here's what I signed on the card:

Dad, there has never been a moment in my life when I doubted that you would be there for me. I can't think of a better gift to give a child. 

So, I'm happy to celebrate father's day with my dad.
Of course, I also lucked out in the husband department. And, although he and I may not parent the same way all the time, we both have good relationships with each of our kids. He's a good father to them.
Happy father's day, Earl, and thanks for coming along on the journey with me.

Christmas Newsletters Worth Saving

Who would blog on Christmas Eve? Between baking cookies, preparing to drive to my brother's house in Dayton, and wrapping presents, I decided to sit down and give a little love to those people who take the time to write Christmas newsletters. I blogged a few weeks ago about how I hate to get Christmas cards that are signed -- no pictures, no news.
The newsletters aren't as popular this year as in previous years, but two of them got me laughing.
One came from a Florida friend. We worked with Steven at The Tampa Tribune. While we were all single, working late, partying hard, Steven was married to Joy and had three little boys. Now those little boys are all grown up and he has a daughter who is in 8th grade.

Steven has managed to keep his sense of humor, in spite of losing his job as an editor. Instead, now he manages a St. Vincent de Paul store.
"It looks like the store will be around longer than the newspaper because people still insist on being poor even though those Tea Party people tell them to get a job. We try to let them know, but the homeless people don't have mailboxes so the letters keep coming back," Steven writes in his newsletter. He considers hiring them to work in the store, but then the store would have no customers so he'd have to lay himself off.
His oldest son Matt became a lawyer last year, but couldn't find a job working in law. Instead, he worked as a hotel parking valet. This year, he's working for Florida as a child abuse lawyer.
"Child abuse is popular there so he is very busy," Steven writes. Sad but true. Yet, the family should prosper as they serve the poor and the abused.
I wish I could print Steven's entire letter, but that would be plagiarism, so I'll just tell you that his wife Joy broke a toe this year "because a fat man in a wheelchair ran over her toe at the hospital." Joy is a nurse. Steven tried to appease her by pointing out that is could be worse.
"Yeah, like it would be worse if you were a monkey because you couldn't grip the branches with your foot and you would fall on the ground and get eaten by wild animals." Joy did not appreciate his input.
Another great Christmas newsletter came from Dream Girl. I've written a number of posts about Dream Girl and her breast cancer treatment. Her newsletter begins:
"What I liked Best About Having Breast Cancer..."

True, it's an odd stand to take, but you should know that Dream Girl feels she has learned a ton from having cancer.
Some of the things she appreciated are "smaller boobs...baldness... being popular... playing the cancer card."
One of her gems of wisdom came under the "Baldness" heading. "Before my hair fell out, I was a mess. But once it began falling out, I was cool with it...It turns out that I had a really nice-shaped head under all of that hair, and I looked so good that I decided I would not be putting it under wraps, choosing to go au natural instead."
Maybe she'll write a book some day: Lessons I Learned From Cancer, cause I just can't see people buying "What I Liked Best About Having Breast Cancer."
So, people, once the presents are all wrapped and under the tree, once the Christmas ham or turkey is in the oven, take the time to write a Christmas newsletter. We want to know what is going on with your family, and we only hear from you once a year.
Not everyone can be as funny as Steven or as wise as Dream Girl, but everyone gets an E for effort. Merry Christmas!

And just be glad my cats don't fit in the Christmas box so no one is getting them as presents this year.