1983 MEETING MY FATHER 17

MEETING MY FATHER (Age 17): At the end of my senior year, I was very involved with my french class and the french club. The teacher planned a trip to France (and neighboring European countries). My great aunt Marjorie decided to fund my going along, with the secondary agenda of my meeting my father. He was a Swiss citizen, and was living in Lausanne. At about 5 days into the trip, I met him in a hotel lobby, with my four half-siblings and my step-mother (actually she may not have been there that day). I wish I had pictures, but I don't. I then spent 5 more days with the french class travelling around. I could hardly focus. I didn't care that I was seeing some of the most amazing sites in the world, I had just met my father. After that, I returned to Lausanne and spent 10 more days with him and his family. It was incredibly life changing. It was almost like what I imagine it must be like for adopted people to find their birth parents. It was scary and stressful and intense. I remember I had a permanent in my hair. I hated it. It was my grandmother's idea. I felt so ugly. Anyway, my father took me and my two older siblings on a trip through the Alps. It was amazing. When I came home, I looked like a different person.


The building in which my father and his family lived in Lausanne, Switzerland.  I last saw this building when I was 30 on my last trip when I saw my father in Ibiza but went to Lausanne alone.  It is now torn down I hear.