UN ANGE
ange (ahnzh)

: an angel

Bien avant de descendre sur terre, tu étais déjà notre petit ange.
Long before you came down to earth, you were already our little angel.

Useful expressions:
un ange gardien = a guardian angel
être un ange = to be an angel; to be wonderfully kind
un ange passe = an angel is passing; said when conversation suddenly falls silent
dormir comme un ange = to sleep like an angel

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

On the eve of Jackie’s 29th birthday, I’d like to expand upon a story her grandmother Jules told me years ago—about how Jean-Marc and I found each other just in time for our daughter to come down to earth.

It begins somewhere in the clouds…

Picture, if you will, two little cherubs: Max and Jackie. There they are, side by side, chins resting in their hands and elbows propped upon a fluffy white nuage, peering over its edge.

Below them are the mother and father they have chosen for themselves: a college student in Tempe, Arizona, and a young Frenchman in Marseille.

The only problem is, their future parents haven’t met yet.

Worse still, Jackie suddenly spots a glimmer far below. Her would-be mother is crossing a bridge at Arizona State University, admiring the sparkling diamond on her ring finger.

Oh, no! Elle est fiancée ! Jackie says (speaking franglais even in Heaven).

Two pairs of wings begin flapping furiously.

Before long, the engagement is over. The girl from Arizona, now an exchange student, boards a plane for Paris.

“Ouf ! That was close,” Max says (also speaking franglais, even as an angel).

Now it is his turn to keep watch over Jean-Marc. From their cloud, the cherubs follow Jean-Marc from the business-school campus at Luminy to a nightclub in Aix-en-Provence—arriving just in time to scare off the amorous girls dancing around their future father.

And there, at last, the couple’s eyes meet. Le coup de foudre !

The two angels breathe a sigh of relief.

But not for long.

The couple quickly falls in love—and then breaks up.

Max and Jackie throw their hands in the air, sending their golden halos spinning. After all that careful planning! All that wing-flapping! What more can two little Franco-American angels do?

And then they have an idea.

Grandpa Kip!

The cherubs flutter down and whisper into his ear. Soon, my father hears himself saying something entirely out of character:

“Kristi—go back to France!”

And so I did.

The rest is family history. Max was the first to leave the cloud, arriving at a clinic in Marseille–seven months after I walked down the aisle in my snug robe de mariée. A few years later, his little sister followed, landing at a hospital in Aix-en-Provence.

And that, according to Grandma Jules, is how Jean-Marc and I “found” each other: with a little help from two determined angels guiding us from above.

Happy 29th birthday, Jackie.

Long before you came down to earth, you were already leading me home.

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FRENCH VOCABULARY

un ange = an angel
un nuage = a cloud
être fiancé(e) = to be engaged
Elle est fiancée ! = She’s engaged!
le franglais = a mixture of French and English
ouf ! = whew!; phew!
le coup de foudre = love at first sight; a lightning strike
la robe de mariée = wedding dress

REMERCIEMENTS
A heartfelt merci to the following readers who supported French Word-A-Day with a donation this past week:

Jan F.

Jeanne M.

Mary Ellen G.

Karyna W.-S.

Love, care, and reader support—that’s what has sustained this journal for nearly 25 years. If these letters bring a little France, friendship, or inspiration to your inbox and you’d like to help keep French Word-A-Day going, your contribution means so much.

🌿 Zelle – to Kristin.espinasse@gmail.com
🌿 PayPal – Click here
🌿 Credit card – Click here

Merci beaucoup.

Encore une fois, in franglais, Happy Birthday, Jackie! Joyeux 29! May this be the best year so far.

Love, from all of us here.