This is Monique, born 26 June 1933 in …., and below Monique in Cholon in 1941.
And below we have Monique with her Mum and her sister Maryse, in Nice in 1947.
Above we have Monique in 1951, the year of my birth, probably in Nice where she passed her Baccalaureate. And below Monique in Nice in 1956. Was she waiting for me? I like to think so.
Below we have one of the most important photos of Monique, dated 1958.
After working first in lab for medical analysis in Nice, she move to Paris in a lab for a large producer of organic chemicals, and then by 1962 she was in the “hot cells” in Mol, Belgium. Below that’s my Monique in an official photo from the site.
My school report for 1962 said “slow but steady”, lucky Monique never read it.
She knew before me, that I would arrive in Ispra, Italy in late 1974, so she moved there, and waited. That didn’t mean she “just waited”, she enjoyed herself and continued her studies in Nice.
And, see below, on 5th November 1974, my first day in the labs of Ispra, I met the love of my life.
And my world would never be the same.
Don’t ask, I have no idea how it happened. Monique took me by storm. She invited me to live with her, and we would share the next 49 years “together hand-in-hand”.
Above we have Monique at Christmas 1976, and below Monique visiting Oxford in during Christmas 1979. Between 1976 and 1979, much happened. Monique bought a small apartment in Valle d’Aosta, and together we bought a house overlooking Largo Varese.
The above photo was taken within a few days of Monique’s 50th birthday. It’s 1983 on the beach in Nice, and this is one of the many Monique’s that often accompany me in my dreams at night.
We moved to Luxembourg, sold the house in Italy, and bought a new house in a small Luxembourgish village, Dippach.
Below we have the photo Monique most loved, our wedding in Luxembourg on the 12 July 1984.
I think, in many ways, Monique tangoed through life with abandon, head held high, whilst I tried to waltz from day-to-day, flat footed, hoping to avoid colliding with others on the dance floor of life.
Above we have Monique’s new passport photo, and the world became our oyster.
Below Monique looks over Venice’s Canal Grande. Just in 1985 we visited Iceland, Los Alamos, Las Vegas, Santa Teresa in Sardegna, England (my parents), Nice and Saint-Tropez (Monique’s family). Then in 1986 it was Madrid, Kamarina in Sicily, and Djerba in Tunisia. Then London, Windsor, Madrid and Salamanca in 1987, and Vigo di Fassa, Cap d’Agde, Paris, Nice and England in 1988.
In 2010 we visited to Alicante, Ronda, Gibraltar, Córdoba, Medina Azahara, Estepona, Vianden, Val d’Aosta, Alassio, Mecina-Fondales, Granada, Tarifa, Collioure, Torino, Paris, Alba, Mandelieu, El Saler, and Jaén.
I can no longer listen to Janis Joplin singing A Woman Left Lonely, without seeing Monique lost somewhere, frightened, and waiting for me to come to her.
