Fabienne Walker-Monod

The Beatles In America

29 November 1964

Date of birth, in Argenteuil, France. The story actually starts way before as I'm the result of an obsessed older sister determined to have a baby sister. "What do you want for your birthday?" A baby sister. "What do you want for Xmas?" A baby sister. "What do you want for dinner?" I don't want dinner, all I want is a baby sister! Upon being offered a doll, she screamed, tore arms and head apart, ripped the clothes off and hollered "I don't want a doll, I want a baby sister!"
Get the idea? So here I am, born exactly 6 years and 3 days (Zero months, zero hours, zero minutes) after my beloved sis.

Great Blackout

1 January 1965

A very proud, chin up 6 year old girl carries her baby sister from the car to the house. She's brimming with joy. Parents are scared silly that she's going to drop me. She never has. Nothing much to say about my parents - it is my beloved sister who raised me, cherished me, guided me and gave me wings to fly on my own.

First Direct Dial Phones

1966 - 1968

Fate? My parents hire an American au pair. I'm at age 4 speaking Frenglish.

First test-tube baby is born, in London

1978 - 1980

First trip to the USA. I learn more English in this 2 1/2 month trip than 3 years of high-school English have taught me. Fabulous trip with a Greyhound bus-pass for 50 bucks that took sis and I from New York to L.A. Then came the time to go back to France... Absolute terror! I already know that "home" will never be France. I survived, quit school as I was learning nothing in there, then set my own rigorous study plan. 6 hours of piano practice per day, geography, history, mathematics, French, English and so on, self-taught while working for my dad evenings and nights. I had a full planning allowing only 4 hours of sleep per night. I DID stick to it for over 2 years. A VERY determined teenager starving for knowledge.

Leonid Brezhnev dead

April 1982

I decide to move to the USA. Life starts here. Miami, Florida, where my beloved sister is living. Best thing she ever did to me was to stick me in front of the TV stating "I'm not translating anymore" and threw a dictionary on my lap. I read it from A to Z and know more archaic and totally useless words than natives.

Death of Tennessee Williams

1983 - 1987

Got married, had a son, found work as executive assistant to the director of human ressources at All Claims Insurance Repairs, Hollywood, Florida.

The first plutonium pacemaker is made

June 1988

Miami has become too dangerous a City to raise a child in. Gunshots every night, drug dealers at every street corner, adventuring outside after nightfall is far too risky. We move to Austin, Texas, where I discover kindness and core values I had never known before. I've found a place to call home, at last.

1992 - 1997

92-98:University years. Phi Beta Kappa every single semester. I can't tolerate being second best so I study day and night, even play recorded lessons in my sleep. At some point in this story (mind-block as to the date, but I was about 28,) I woke up one morning completely paralyzed. I missed a couple semesters while on dialysis, oxygen and steroid IVs, losing 5 Lbs per week on a 5000 calories per day diet. I learned I could never play the piano again. To me, that was the most traumatizing part of the ordeal. I could not cope with this news. Bought a wheelchair and doubled my efforts at the University.

Northern Ireland Peace process

1998

My Thesis in Anthropology is pre-approved. Problem is, a year of on-site experience is required in order to obtain my Ph.D. and I'm still on a wheelchair. I drop everything and play housewife for a while. That could not last. I get into Website design and marketing.

2001

I'm no longer confined as a wheelchair slave and decide to work on this Ph.D. when I receive a phone call from Houston's French Consulate: my beloved father is dying. 4 hours after the call, I'm boarding an airplane to go to France where I burry my father 3 months later. I swear I'll never set foot in France for the rest of my life.

2003 - 2007

Famous last words!

Fabienne Walker-Monod
Pantin,
France

Official Biobble Translator
Denying any responsibility for whatever frenglish Alecse enters behind my back :-)

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