Carnets de Seattle (Notes from Seattle)

Earlier this year, I wrote a piece about a blog I found that really rocked my world.  It's called Carnets de deux expats a Seattle written by a French couple living in my hometown of Seattle.  I fell in love with this blog and I've spent many a day reading their impressions of "my" city. 

But that's not the only reason I read it.  Early in 2011, the adventure became something else when Loic was diagnosed with leukemia.  He and his wife did not return to France.  Instead he is being treated at a local hospital (coincidentally this the same hospital where the Elder Frenchling was born :-)

What happened to them tapped into some of my deepest fears about migrating so far from home.  I've often wondered what I would do if I became seriously ill or worse while living in France.  It's not about the medical system per se - it's about being so far from family in a country where I am still sometimes a "stranger" even after nearly 20 years.

I've been comforted by what Loic and his wife have written.  They have faced this situation together with grace and courage.  But they didn't face it alone.  Recently Loic started writing posts to thank all the people in the U.S. and France who have helped them get through this.

Unsung Heroes:  France

Unsung Heroes: Seattle part I

Read them.  People on both sides of the Atlantic may read in their experiences, and in the people they are grateful to, things that will make all of us more aware of how much sheer human goodness is to be found in all places and in all people.