Le French Hello

Le French Hello 

Well, I was so excited and un peu nervous to meet the parents and brother of my French daughter-in-law that all my wonderful linguistic plans flew out the car window on the way to the restaurant. Longtime hubby and I rehearsed all sorts of hello's and nice to meet you's. He planned to say "bienvenue" and I planned to say "bonsoir." We practiced saying their lovely French names. The one thing I hadn't thought about, despite my recent binge-watching of the French series "Call My Agent," was the way the French greet each other. I didn't give it a thought.

The American Hellody Hug 

And so the minute they arrived, jet-lagged from the long flight and parched from the L.A. heatwave, I went in for the standard full-body SJG hug. It may have startled them, but did that stop me? Non. Not even when I heard my D.I.L. whisper to her mother, "She's a hugger." Longtime hubby course-corrected, offering a series of friendly handshakes/half hugs that achieved a nice balance of warmth and cultural respect. As opposed to my way of affectionately invading their space. Dinner was a delight, as the newlyweds did their best to interpret and I threw in any French word that popped into my brain, such as "peut etre," "fromage" and countless "oui"s. I even managed a few sentences, including, "J'adore Chloe," and "Je mange le pain." I could tell they were impressed. On the way home, the man I married a while back said, "We need to work on our French." "Speak for yourself," I said.