Memoirs of a child of the past century - 7. Chapter 7 : We and the children

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I would like to interrupt the chronology of my memories and talk about something that is very close to my heart: my children and grandchildren. They were originally a large group of four children and six grandchildren. If we subtract the two children who have left and add the three great-grandchildren who came a few years ago, today we have reached a figure of 11 descendants!

Here's the list:

Four children: Philip, born in Zurich 19 December 1952 and died in Lausanne on 10 July 2008; Gilles was born in Zurich 6 November 1956; Catherine born in Sierre 22 November 1958 and died in Lausanne on 5 November 2003 and Nicolas born in Lausanne July 16, 1964.

Six grandchildren: Philip’s Children: Yaelle, born in Lausanne October 4th 1977; Saskia, born in Lausanne August 27th 1982; Gwenaël, born in Lausanne on 1986; Damien, born inLausanne March 18th 1993; Gilles’s children: Nathan, born in Geneva March 19th 1993; Yohana, born in Geneva July 29th 1997.

Three great-grandchildren: Mina, Saskia's daughter born in Lausanne June 12th 200; Yaelle's chlidren, Kemy, born in Lausanne October 18th 2006 and Djago born in Lausanne 13 January 2008.

At family celebrations, to these 11 were added the companions of those who did not live alone or who had not divorced. The last time we were seventeen at dinner. It was necessary to add two extensions to the table, gather all the chairs in the apartment and take three additional chairs from the terrace!

Yvette and I were brought up strictly and we therefore resented the discipline of our parents. In response, we wanted to give our children the freedom that we missed. We have given guidelines and goals but we were very "broad" if they were not followed or met. We've probably done a disservice to our children for fear they would have bad memories of their childhood.

As I said before, I was often absent and Yvette had great difficulty raising and educating four children alone; but the freedom that they had also had benefits for us. We had open and frank discussionswith them.

Returning home one day, Yvette and I found Philippe (He was in his freshman year) hidden in the bathroom with a lovely girl, Dorina. He did not dare admit that he was already very "intimate" with his girlfriend and that they had spent together in our absence certainly very pleasant hours. This is how we have gained a new daughter-in, the first of a long series!

My professional life was marked by several periods with different wealth status. At first, my income allowed me to live a decent life, nothing more. My children received a small pocket money and were content with.

After a few years (I will discuss this in a later chapter), I became wealthy very quickly and the children benefited greatly from our new situation. The three seniors all obtained very quickly a car or scooter. When I bought a large three-story house, I could not nly provide room for everyone but they had more space in the basement for their games with their friends, who could even spend the night at home in one of three guest rooms.

As a result of various financial woes, I had to sell the house five years later. Yvette and I have rolled up our sleeves together to keep us afloat and their lives as unchanged as possible. But they have always remained very close to us and we continued to assist them as much as possible.

Some details about each child :

Philip began studies to be an architect but stopped because he wanted to study the same way as Dorina. Both went to the same professional school, married and both become teachers in primary schools (he remained teaching for a few years, then changed jobs several times, first in the film industry, and then creatinged at last his own company in the distribution of cosmetics and beauty products).

After the birth of his two daughters, he divorced and remarried Lucia, with whom he had two boys. Then he divorced again and remarried Joëlle whom he also left after some time. He was a man who had principles: his love never lasted very long, but he refused to be unfaithful. Instead of having mistresses, he preferred to divorce and remarry immediately with his new conquest!

At age 50, he gave up his principles, lived with Marianne who was in love with him since the age of 16 and who waited for him all that time. He was happy with her and saw his four children regularly until his death from a heart attack (killed by smoking nearly two packs of cigarettes a day). After his death, Marianne took over his business, with our help. We are still in close contact with her.

Gilles began studying electrical engineering. During his spare time he developed a passion for cinema. The owner of an old local movie theatre, who was ill, asked him to assist in the programming of its audience. A few months later, after the death of the owner, the widow asked him to manage the theatre on his own. Without hesitation, forgetting his studies, he accepted, and modernized the theatre with my help. In a few years he became owner of one of of the main theatres of art in the city and could buy a second theaterer in another city.

He married Sabina, another theatre fan, whith whom he had a son and a daughter. They managed together his different theatres with success. Over the years, the film market changed and small theaters are gone. They have been replaced by large complexes with dozens of screening theaters.

He was obliged to develop a new business in real estate. Today, he is working with me, taking over most of my former business. Although he divorced two years ago, his and our connections with his former wife and the children are now a lot better as the they were a few months before the divorce.

Catherine was the most gifted of our children, but also the most independent-minded. Very intelligent, she was bored at school and skipped school frequently. . We were obliged to send her successively to several private schools; where she did not remain for long. The one that pleased her most was 'the School of Humanity', a 'free' internship located in a secluded valley in the Alps, which functioned according to the principles of the 'Summerhill School' (for those nterested, see more
at: http://www.ecole.ch/...amesecolee.html).

Later, when she was 18, she left home and lived successively with several boyfriends, all older than she. She lived an eventful life, married twice, learned and practiced various professions, ranging from executive secretary to independent business woman, even sometimes accepting, in order to survive, the job of waitress in a bar. She travelled a lot, particularly in Southern Europe and South America. She even took part in a project in Argentina building a local railway between Buenos Aires and La Plata;, a project that was unfortunately never completed!

After her return to Europe, she became HIV positive in 1984, sadly due to transfusion of contaminated blood in a hospital in Madrid. She was among the first patients to benefit from the triple therapy against AIDS. From 1994 to 2003 she lived at home with us so that we could enjoy together lives that were as good and full as possible. I still remember a wonderful holiday in Martinique, where I went alone with her, so that she could enjoy the warmth and the sea..

By the end, her health had deteriorated sharply. She decided to stop fighting. We installed her in a clinic near us which specialized in palliative care and we were with her as much as we could until her last moments.

Nicolas has lived his early years carefree, surrounded and pampered by his parents and siblings. In 1978, when we had to leave the house, he first lived with his older brother and then followed us to Zurich. He took the opportunity to learn German. Since he is very good at languages, he also quickly learned English, Spanish, Italian and Russian. He began studies as an interpreter but quickly branched into computers.

After first living with a lot of girlfriends and enjoying it, he became at least aware of his homosexuality. After several experiments, he has now lived for over 5 years with the same partner. His work as a computer specialist 'Oracle' led him to work for a multinational company. He was able to travel worldwide to train other specialists, travelling over 40,000 kilometers between Japan, California and South America.

Today, he doesn’t make any more trips. He works as assistant of the manager of a industrial company which produces luxury irons and sells them throughout the world. He settled with his partner in a magnificent house 60 km from Geneva and both are part of the family.