Well written Dfinney. I had a smile on my face at the start, than it went away reading on but came back at the end. Nice words!
( I discovered a relative in South Africa via LinkedIn, no reply, then my 85 year odl father told me my nephew died at age 50 due to alhocol addiction. )
I am so sorry about your nephew. Also gone to young. 😪
Carl’s mom (Irene) is Dutch. She immigrated from the Netherlands to South Africa when she was 10. When we all met up in Paris in 2013 it was sort of a happy accident. Irene had come to London to visit, Carl, his wife and her grandson because they were still living in the UK at the time. So Carl (and fam) took his mom to the visit the Netherlands. Her first time back since she had left decades earlier. Then they went through Paris because his mom had always wanted to go. My trip to Paris just coincidentally overlapped in timing to theirs. Then our other friend (a Canadian living in Germany, married to an American serviceman she met in Japan) took the train to see us all. It was so fun.