Dom Dom

My husband grew up in a rambling house in London. A massive garden at the back. They forever had people staying with them. The uncles, one mad and eccentric the other a distinguished high commissioner to Canada. Musicians, actors and artists, boarding school kids who's parents lived abroad. A series of au pair girls even when the children no longer needed childcare.They became very much part of the family. There was always an open invitation to dinner for anyone who cared to stay. Impromptu BBQs and cricket matches on the giant lawn. Epic fancy dress New Year's Eve parties where kids were welcome to stay up all night and someone was very likely to end up in the pool. Liberal attitudes towards alcohol and gorgeous Au pair girls made it the favourite hangout for all my husbands friends. Apparently the European au pair girls were much racier then their English peers. I know one or two have some wild tales to tell.

When I first met my husband I used to love to pour through his family albums. His father dashing in a silk cravat. Dancing cheek to cheek with his wife in Mardi Gras masks. Glasses of bubbly raised all around. His mother in her white patent leather mini skirt, matching hat and boots. Or glamorous in a gold lame gown, her head thrown back in laughter with her tiny daughter clinging to her hand. Sitting in a convertible a scarf tied under her chin, forever golden from her time summering in Nice. A far cry from the tan my mother had watching us run barefoot and fully clothed through the open fire hydrant on our street in Brooklyn. Keeping a watch for traffic while warning us to watch out for broken glass. We could not have had a more dissimilar upbringing.

Many of the young woman who lived with them during my husband's youth are still in touch with the his parents. One Au Pairs made my sister in law godmother to her daughter. She in turn made her goddaughter godmother to her middle girl. Dom Dom came over from France to live with them when the Moose was about eight years old. I met her early on in our relationship and she confessed he had always been her favourite. When Isabella was that age Dom Dom said she saw so much of him, the reserve, the quick humour,, the keen intellect and love of words. She sent me scans of all the drawings and letters he had written to her when she lived with them. She still had them nearly thirty years on. She wouldn't part with the originals. She comes to visit once a year and still looks at him with such affection. She has the maddest laugh and the most wonderful Parisian accent. We had a quick but exceptionally sweet visit.