Eva Irene Chailland was my grandmother (granny). She was born January 22, 1920 in Kennett, Missouri. Her birth was like anyone elses of the time; meaning that she was born at home. However, unlike everyone elses birth, hers was unique in one way...the doctor delivering her was drunk. So drunk in fact that he forgot whether or not he delivered a boy or a girl. For 75 years my grandmothers birth certificate stated that she was a boy.
We had the wonderful privelage of taking my grandmother to Chailland, France; our ancestoral home when she came to visit our family while we were stationed in Germany. This had always been a dream of hers to see where her family had lived prior to immigrating to America. It didn't matter that she held jobs, owned businesses and gave birth to two children of her own (all while still being listed as a boy on her birth certificate), she had to still go to an attorney in order to legally change the documents in order for a passport to be issued so that she could go oversees.
There were nine of us traveling; my family, my parents and my granny, so we rented two identical vehicles to make our travels more comfortable and enjoyable. Back then, there were no cell phones so we took along walkie talkies to communicate between cars. Granny didn't want us to get lost so she took her scarf from around her neck and tied it to the back of their vehicle as a visible sign of where they were at all times.
We traveled through Germany, Switzerland and into France. We saw some beautiful countryside. At our first hotel in France, Granny needed to go to the bathroom. My mother came to our room laughing so hard because Granny had not only used the bidet when she went to the bathroom, but she also didn't just go pee. After eyeing the bidet, she just assumed that in France they didn't make the same types of toilets as they do in the U.S. and began using the restroom. (Actually, in our hotel, the bathroom was IN your room, only it was behind a curtain). And another thing, she couldn't understand was why they didn't have eggs and bacon for breakfast. Being from the south, she grew up on these. She couldn't imagine why they kept making her eat (as she says) "those croissants" for breakfast.
Mama had gotten sick just before we arrived into Chailland so our stay was not as long as we had expected. We did get to take several pictures as well as a video and stopped by a local shop for souveniers. While in the shop, I tried to explain that this was our ancestoral home but no one spoke English and we did not speak French. They did however speak a little German so with the limited German I had known while living in Germany and from German classes (10 years prior), I tried to communicate. It finally turned out that we all began drawing pictures. One thing that we especially enjoyed was getting pictures of the Chateau where our family had once lived. Our ancestors were nobility at the time, hince why the city was named after our family, but sadly, the city was taken over during the French Revolutionary War.
While driving through Paris to get to a hotel, we encountered every famous sights Paris is known for (all by accident). The city's rail system had been closed down for a week and everyone was stuck in the city. The city was congested and people were angry. The three lane street we were on was transformed into five. What a mess that was. We had no choice but to follow the person in front. We saw Norte Dame, The Louvre, Arc of Triumph and the Eiffel Tower. We were taking a video of all the sights. When the Eiffel Tower came into view, it was so beautiful. It was at night and the tower glowed with its amber colored lights. I was taking the video and as we approached the tower, the size was distorted in the view finder. I turned the cam corder sideways like one would do with a camera. F.Y.I. The cam corder is NOT like a camera. If you turn the cam corder sideways, the image falls down. The last thing we saw in our video was the Eiffel Tower "falling down".
We had an amazing time. Granny appreciated the fact that she could go and visit her ancestoral home. This had been a long time dream of hers and I am thankful that I could be apart of making that dream possible. Although my granny is no longer living, one of her stories has just been preserved. I know if she were here today, she would wish to tell this same story as she has so many times before.