We love the French! (especially their fries ... and their toast)

I have a lovely and lucky friend Lynn who married a Frenchman in her 40s, ran off to France, popped out a beautiful baby girl, then a beautiful baby boy, went back to school to get her Master's while raising these two babies and is just generally living la vida loca (shutUP! I KNOW that ain't French!), sipping French wine and strolling through villas in Lille, eating Nutella and croissants and having a blast. Also, she's a size zero.

I hate her.

OK, actually I LOVE her! We worked together at The Sun, and even headed up the newsroom's wing of the Newspaper Guild (our version of a union) together, rabble-rousing for a good cause. She left to come to the company where I work now and when the owners were looking for a good writer to hire, she suggested me. So that's how I got to be where I am today.

She's awesome and super-fun and cheerful and giving, a real straight-shooter and always, always ready with a laugh (California girl that she is). And I miss her.

So when she rolled through town for a hot second this week, with her baby boy Gaston, who is 7 and a half months, even though it was a crazy week I knew I had to make time for her to come visit!

Tall AND tiny! I hate her!

This is how she always looks. So happy! I love her!

Gaston is Clair's first French suitor. Too bad he was all debonair like, "Bonjour, mademoiselle!" And Clair was all Baltimore like, "French fries?? Where?!" LOL!

And I'm so glad I did.

We had Gil's Pizza (a Baltimore landmark) and Cupcake wine. Clair was into everything and the boys showed off mightily (grrrr!). We talked about marriage and kids and France and Baltimore and families and old friends (and Lester even managed to work in French politics, of course). We had a blast until Dean stole her Pellegrino and chugged it, and started pretending to have a meltdown and Cary stole Clair's toy from Gaston ("NOOO! It's Clairzeee's!") and started having a real meltdown.

And just like that, our very short visit was over. She and her family are off to California for the holidays and then back to Lille, and it'll be awhile before she makes this trip again.

Sniff.

Au revoir, Lynnie! We'll always have Baltimore.