"Longing for the 15th Nov."

'...longing for the 15th Nov. love Mom'

The only letter I kept from my mother while we lived in France.

And the letters from Paris stop.

The final letter to Mom and Dad in Howick, from Marly-le-Roi, France, is dated 26 October 1987.

I give her the latest travel and family news as well as  the plans for our move back to South Africa which were being finalised.

When my mother gave me this set of letters that I wrote to her  from France between the July of 1986 and October 1987, I popped Mom's last letter from the 22nd September 1987 into the large plastic envelop.

I am so pleased that I did so as it is the only one I kept. It is a wonderfully long newsy letter with newspaper cuttings of her and Dad in their Mayoral role. She writes about having a busy time and how after the Mayoral induction, they attended a conference in Klerksdorp, she sent me news about my school friends; babies, affairs and divorces and about her friends too. And of course news about what Inel and Doreen had been doing.

The last letter from France giving Mom my flight times.

My letter talks about Fred being 'fed-up with the situation here'. He never really settled or enjoyed the work experience in Paris. I do not even recall that he was offered a role in Taiwan! But I do know that  he was desperate to get back to South Africa.

I flew back first with Shawni and Barry, arrived on the 15th November and stayed with the folks in Howick, while Fred finished up in Paris, arranged the last details of the move and our French sojourn was abruptly over.

Our letters talk about looking forward to seeing each other, Mom even had a cot and high chair ready for the grandchildren. Yet I remember this time as being so difficult for me. I felt uprooted and just a little marooned in Howick, without a routine the kids were out of sorts too and the house felt too small for all of us.

I was unsure of our next steps, our house in Johannesburg was still tenanted, so no home, no cars, no work....
South Africa, instead of feeling like home, felt foreign and I was the stranger.