I’ve always been a Francophile. Even though I’m Irish through and through, there is a very small, but important, piece of me that is French. 

My great-grandfather was actually born in Paris. He would come to America and marry a woman who emigrated to America from Ireland. Their daughter, my Nana, would marry my grandfather. My grandfather was stationed in France during World War II. His uncle, nicknamed Fog, a member of the Fighting Irish 69th, was killed in action in World War I, and he was buried in France. He shares the same name as my grandfather, my father, my son, and I. 

It’s the reason I took French in High School and won the French Award. It’s the reason I always wanted to travel to France. I wanted to visit Paris and Normandy and Giverny and Côte d’Azur. It’s why I’m so despondent today. 

Terrorist attacks are designed to shake you to your core no matter where you are. I know I’m not the only person today that paused for a moment and remembered 9/11. I remembered that phone call from my Mom. I remember waiting to hear if my relatives in the NYPD, Con Ed, and who worked in lower Manhattan were alright. I got lucky because they were. 

This is what people in France and around the world are feeling right now. They’re in my thoughts and prayers. They make me think of the people who lost their loved ones on 9/11 or other terrorist attacks. They make me think of Fog, who went to France never to return home again. 

There are many men and women who will not be coming home agar due to the acts of terrorists.  It’s important to remember they’ve won nothing. Tomorrow the people of France will awake free men and women. People like Fog fought and died to make sure of that. 

However, tonight, well tonight is about grief, confusion, and anger. Those raw, powerful emotions I remember feeling fourteen years ago. Tomorrow begins the healing. I’m sure France will have their version of the Piazza homerun; an event that lets everyone escape and know it’s all going to be alright. Before all of that, we all mourn with France tonight. 

Viva la France.