While many in the world feel the pandemic is a disaster or a disruption, we have weathered the storm and found great things in this time. Hugh V was born just days before France shut down. Through that experience we met a mid-wife who blessed us beyond belief. Then I helped her move. At that event I then met her sister who invited us to stay with her and her husband in Nîmes. So during a school break we took a train with two kids and a stroller to a city we’d never been to before.

During our stay I got sick but thankfully it wasn’t COVID. We still trudged through mostly empty streets looking at restored architectural wonders, leaning about the linguistic and cultural diversity of the area, and visiting museums.

These experiences would not have been possible without the generosity of our French friends or the logistic persistence of my wife.

One of the fantastically fun things I started on this trip was sketching with my daughter.