Growing Up French-American
My father came to America from France on an exchange program through his university when he was 22. Thirty years earlier, my mother’s mother had come to America from France on a boat when she was 20. She was born during World War II, when the Germans occupied France. One family story that has been told several times is the story of how, when my grandmother was a baby, there was a shortage of food. On Sundays, her parents would have to push her in a baby carriage for four miles outside of town to get vegetables from friends. Because the food was rationed in town, they would hide the vegetables underneath the blankets, which were under the baby. On their way back in town, German soldiers would stop them and look at the baby, but they never knew vegetables were hidden at the bottom of the carriage. Hearing this story several times reminded my siblings and I of our French heritage and taught us about French history. It gave us a deeper connection to France, and an even deeper appreciation