The Retirement Party!

So finally, the day came. My last day of work, and it was over, but not completely over.  There was still - THE PARTY!!! And what a party it was. Everyone was French! I was certain that we were already in France. Really!!

(photo by Leah)

I was shocked. SHOCKED by the outpouring of wonderful people wishing us well.

(photo by Laura)

So off we went, into the sunset.

(photo by Leah)

Thank you partners. Thank you colleagues for the best job of my life and such a wonderful send off.

Since we wanted to stay in France longer than 90 days, we had to obtain long-stay visitor's Visas. There was a bit of paperwork involved.

Then there was the trip to the French Consulate in Chicago for fingerprints, photos and the French inquisition.

In the beginning . . .

...there was a house. Jessica and Eric's house to be precise. It looked something like this:

Our house!

We sold the house. It will not show up in this story again. But then, we had the freedom to fulfill our dream of living in Europe - just for a while. For the next 5 months it was apartment living - until retirement!