Why this trip, why these people

You may be wondering why we are going to France for six weeks, particularly with a toddler in tow. Well, as we pack and prepare to deal with a long plane trip and jet lag, we are wondering the same thing!

As you probably know, Ally is a French history professor at Mississippi State University. She needs to get to France pretty regularly--approximately annually--to do archival research. She might post about her projects in more detail later. Basically, she's finishing up a book-length manuscript on her dissertation, which covered deportation of political criminals from France to the French Empire during the nineteenth century. She's also looking at a couple of new projects.

Ally's research needs dictate our itinerary. Most of the French governmental records are centralized in Paris; however, materials related to the overseas empire are in Aix-en-Provence. Lyon has some promising collections for a new project. All three just happen to be wonderful cities to visit and to live in. I lived in Paris in summer 1996 and we both lived there during the 2001-2002 academic year; more recently, Ally spent a few weeks there in summer 2006, while we were expecting Eli. We've visited Aix a few times, and Ally made it part of her 2006 trip as well. And Lyon is Ally's favorite city. She lived in Lyon during the 1999-2000 school year. Unfortunately, we won't get to visit Nice, where we lived 2002-2003.

Eli pretty much goes where Ally does, so the plan has always been for him to accompany her. Various members of our families volunteered to visit and spend time with Eli. We'll be talking about them a bit later.

I was the last addition to the trip. It looked like I might be working for law firms all summer and be able to go to France only briefly or not at all, but it did not turn out that way. I do have a job lined up with a firm in Birmingham after our return. But I jumped at chance to be with my two favorite people in my favorite foreign county. I'll also be doing some research and development for my law school's legal writing program, which work I can do anywhere I have an internet connection.