Day One

What would you do if you knew for certain that today was the first day of the rest of your life?

I doubt that you would start a blog, but for me this is day one, so live with it. This blog is a dialogue with my two children, Hannah and Will. And if I had a picture of them, I would post it here, but I don't.

I do have a picture of a French packet ship. Packet ships were originally designed to carry mail, then later cargo and passengers. They were neither sleek nor fast. They were designed for efficiency; they got the job done.

The ship, the Rochambeau represents a beginning. For this is the ship that in 1919 carried my grandfather Ltc. James Madison Pearson and his new bride Marguerite Chevallier Pearson from France to the United States. The date was shortly after the end of the First World War. It was war in Europe with its death and destruction that first brought my grandfather to France as a soldier and then introduced him to my grandmother when he was injured.

Perhaps this blog will be like  the Rochambeau. It too represents a beginning - a new line of communication between my children and me. And, hopefully, like the packet ships of yore carrying messages back and forth, this blog will get the job done.