In 1965, I bought my first apartment in a residence near Saint Cyr, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Paris. It was under construction, and I had to wait another year for it to be built. It was a small apartment—one large room plus a kitchen and bathroom—but it was my first property, and I was very proud of it. It had a small front yard, and my father, who was more adept than me at gardening (he himself had a small garden outside of Paris), planted a small rose bush in the middle of it. I loved it and took good care of it.
But my wife and I didn’t stay very long there, as I was offered a job in Cameroon, where we stayed for four years. We then moved to Canada and then to the United States three years later.
But I kept a fond memory of this apartment, my first, and of the place, with its small front yard and the rose bush planted by my father.
© 2025, Albert Garih. The text, images, and audio and video clips on this website are available for limited non-commercial, educational, and personal use only, or for fair use as defined in the United States copyright laws.