Ch. 20: The Universe Provides

Thanks for reading the newest chapter of my travel memoir, Still Life with Sierra, about how my family found hope and joy after the death of my daughter, Sierra, age 2. Paid subscribers have access to previous chapters of my travel memoir in their entirety. Please consider supporting my work with a paid subscription. Here's a link where you can catch up:https://peggysijswerda.substack.com/s/a-travel-memoir-still-life-with-sierra Leah, an eighteen-year-old from California, bounced into our lives in Antibes. Recommended by the campground office, she came to babysit one night so Peter and I could go on a rare date. Bubbly and vivacious, Leah said she'd been traveling in Europe for a couple of months but was running low on money. 'We've been looking for an au pair to travel with us and help with the kids,' I said spontaneously. Peter looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. We'd just met Leah after all. 'It's just a thought. We can talk about it later,' I said and gave Leah instructions for the boys' dinner and bedtimes. That evening Peter and I explored Cannes, which was busy preparing for its annual film festival. Workmen built stages, laid red carpets, and put up posters of the festival's film schedule. The city reeled with passion. On a side street a fashionable café full of well-dressed young people enticed us. Sitting down at the bar, we drank Pernod on ice served with a complimentary olive tapenade and toasted bread. Jazz played in the background, and Peter and I relaxed among the colorful crowd, content to sit and simply enjoy a break from the kids. Later we ate beef brochettes redolent of garlic on an outdoor terrace and watched the stars pop out of the night sky. I thought of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and how—not far from here—their turbulent lives brought them from ecstasy to despair. Even in a place as magical as the South of France, I knew happiness was not a guarantee. After further discussion, Peter and I invited Leah to join us for a month as the boys' au pair. She'd travel with us through Spain and Portugal, and we would make sure she got back to Nice in time to catch her flight to California. The boys liked Leah. We all did. She smiled a lot, could take care of herself, and had a calm way about her. And while the five of us had relished our time together, it was wonderful to have a new person to talk to. After exploring Provence, following the footsteps of van Gogh in Arles, and biking through the countryside in Avignon, we traveled to Barcelona, a city I had mixed feelings about. Years before while backpacking, I visited Barcelona and found it a little seedy. That's probably because my girlfriend and I were accosted in Plaza Real by a couple of Spaniards, who became offended that we didn't want to join them. They hurled obscenities at us, and we scurried off, no harm done. But the experience left me wary of Spain in general and Barcelona in particular. For good reason, it turned out.