Theo and Mémère

Theo & Me

Dear Cousins,

Yesterday was my birthday. I'll not tell you my age only that it was my birthday. What I will share is that one March 16th some years ago, I was born to George LeBlanc and Roseann Lévesque early in the morning (4 a.m.). Now that is probably a clue as to why I have always been up early in the morning. I never thought of that until now.

As a gift, our daughter Rebecca scheduled an appointment at the studio for a photo shoot. It was fun and an innovative way to spend a birthday don't you think? Photos were taken of my husband Tony and moi, Theo and "us" then of Theo alone. Those last photos can be seen on his blog "Theodorable" - the link is at the sidebar. Yes, Theo has his own blog and can't even write yet...

So we now have a beautiful 10x13 portrait of the four of us: Theo, Rebecca, Tony and me. Really nice! We also have a nice portrait of Tony and me and then the photo you see above.

Of course, I just had to have a photo of Theo & Mémère. I spend a good deal of time with him and just love him to pieces and tell me, who wouldn't love that cute little face?!

After the photo shoot and selection of photos, Tyler (Theo's Dad) met us for a great lunch at Legal Seafoods. We ordered a new dish with fish from Australia. It was really excellent along with a nice glass of wine - mmm good!

Of course, this year my birthday got an early start. On Sunday our other daughter, Sarah and her finacé Corey came to take me out to one of my favorite restaurants. When I go there I always order the grilled Cajun shrimp. They too gave me beautiful gifts to go with my wardrobe that I have been updating. We did some shopping for Sarah's trousseau and then home for part of the afternoon where I "modeled" some of my new duds.

As you can see, our children (Tyler & Corey) are very good to me/us. We are blessed!

By the way, Sarah and Corey's wedding is only two months away. So much to do and so little time to do it kind of thing. Next weekend is Sarah's birthday so we plan to spend the day with her over the weekend.

I'd like to share a little history about the venue where Sarah & Corey will be married:

On May 1, 1945 The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette purchased approximately 300 acres which remain the footprint for the present development. The Fathers rearranged the mansion to incorporate a small chapel and living quarters for a number of priests and brothers, built several new structures, including the very large La Salette Shrine which was used for regular religious services as well as providing a wonderful setting for local concert performances.

In 1997, the Missionaries sold the property and the company that purchased it plans to create a resort which will include a conference center, hotel, residential units, an 18 hole golf course and other such amenities while keeping intact the vast majority of open space and extensive trail system. Meanwhile they are hosting weddings for the next couple of years. Sarah and Corey were fortunate to be one of the couples who will marry at Turner Hill.

Sarah was surprised when I told her that on Sundays during the summer, I would take my grandmother to this very place when it was the LaSalette Shrine. My Mémère Lévesque was very religious and enjoyed the shrine and it was always a nice little outing the two of us shared as we were very close and I loved her dearly.

So it will be interesting to go there again and I'm sure my heart will be filled with memories of the many visits there with my grandmother and especially the joy of witnessing the marriage of our youngest daughter and her wonderful fiancé in this special place I once shared with my Mémère. I sort of think she will be smiling down on all of us as Father Richard blesses this union.

Sarah and Corey decided to have a "vintage" wedding. The location certainly plays into all of their plans. There will be old family photos on all of the tables where the wedding guests will be seated. So in every way they will be remembering the heritage of both of their families. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

So when all is said and done, life really does go full circle doesn't it?

At the beginning of this blog I said that I would not tell you my age and when I say that to anyone it brings to mind a little story of when I was teaching. Students just love to know their teacher's age. When my students would begin asking I would say: "for me to know and for you to find out" - so it would become a year long effort on their part to try to figure out my age. It was lots of fun but naturally they never did get to know how old this teacher was.

Funny thing is that it I really don't mind telling my age but as a spin off from those days with my students I've just continued to not tell my age. ;o)

Well today's blog has been about my birthday and my family.. now whenever you celebrate your birthday or that of loved ones, do make it special!

Love,

Your cousin Lucie

P.S. Theo gave me a birthday present to: a little book entitled "In Grandma's Arms" awwww...