my two moms

"Maman Michelle" has been my "French Mom" for around 20 years now. I haven't had a chance to see her since the wedding, and as each year goes by, so goes my French down "la toilette."

I was able to converse well enough to get my point across, but that's because Michelle forgave my singular use of the present tense, and general disregard for the formalities of proper grammar. Sort of ironic for a writer, non?

The really fun part was when I would blank out on a word, grab the French/English dictionary, and groan in disbelief when I saw that the word was the same in both languages, just with a different pronunciation and inflection. For example, the word "example" is "exemple." But of course.

Another fun "exemple," you ask? Well, Mom's PC laptop (which she uses for video Skype calls) decided to act up, and although it was claiming to be connected to the Internet, no connection could be made (and thus no calls placed). Try as we might, we couldn't get the damn thing to work. I tried to explain to Michelle that, apparently, the hamster that powers the wheel that powers the laptop was MIA. I couldn't think of what the word for "hamster" was, so I checked the dictionary. The word? "Hamster" (but pronounced without the "H"). I then turned to Michelle and explained that the hamster was missing. I paused, then repeated, en francais, "L'Hamster et mort" ("the hamster is dead"). This became a catch phrase over the next day and a half.

Damn hamster. Kept us from Skyping with the Oakland clan. Mon Dieu.