Well, the time has almost come for Marius to return home to his family. While we are sad to say goodbye, our year with him was truly special and we will cherish the memories we made forever. It is also not the end as we already have a trip planned to visit him and meet his family (more on that in a future post).

It is mind-boggling to me that Matt and I really did not plan for this. We were sitting in the Maldives (how obnoxious is that) one July afternoon doom scrolling only to come across a Facebook post from the agency asking a family in Maine to host a young man from France. 3 weeks later we were in Newark picking up the boy…

Matt and I have learned a lot about ourselves and our values thanks to our year with Marius. I am sure much of what we learned, most parents experience raising their kids, so I doubt I have much to add in that general discourse. We can never thank Marius and his family enough for giving us this gift.

I will say, for those who are not parents and are child-curious, hosting an exchange student can be a truly wonderful experience and I highly recommend it (those of you who are parents, exchange students make excellent siblings too). To me it clicked on election night. In 2016, Matt and I were drunk and freaking out like it was the end of the world. In 2024 with Marius sitting by our side watching the results come in, well we stayed calm, and Matt made a wonderful chocolate cake to eat our sorrows. Life goes on and life is good.

For those curious about hosting a foreign exchange student, reach out! It was so much fun. For the rest of our lives Matt and I will have a French son. We cannot wait to visit him soon and meet his wonderful family.

Happy Fathers Day Everyone!