The farm looks quite important

Immigrants are pulled back to their countries of origin even after many years of living in their adopted country. When families are separated the need to return is usually even stronger. 20 years had passed before Eddy was able to return to Switzerland.  He made the journey with his wife and two children who were very small at the time. Whole families had been created in the years that he had gone. His sister, Michele, had four children that Eddy had never met.
Eddy made his return trip on July 27 1967. He wrote back to the family on the farm that "the trip over the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Shuswap was really beautiful, the farm looks real well and quite important among all the trees and little lakes for miles around".

Arial views of the farm

As an adult I try to visit Switzerland annually to reconnect with the family there that I have, despite short visits, been able to create deep bonds with.  It is one of the sad things in my life that I am separated from my family that live in Switzerland and France. The visits are wonderful however very intense and it is not the same as experiencing the day to day in a family. Eddy had noted the same thing in his letters back to the farm, stating that the continuous visiting and pressures of seeing family and friends could get overwhelming at times. 

Caroline and Eddy with Eddy's Uncle, Mico (Dr. Amie Miege) in 1967. Eddy last saw Mico as a young man of 18 years of age and returned with a family 20 years later.

Caroline Miege with her Aunt Michele. I travelled to Switzerland for the first time as a family in 2003 when my children were all under the age of eight years. 

From left to right during the 2003 family trip to Switzerland;  Aidan, Caroline, Marlee, and Mico

Caroline Miege and Marlee Miege-Moffat, 2003, France.

The cousins getting to know each, visit in Switzerland 2003.

I have not yet been able to do another family trip to Switzerland and have been returning alone for the last few years.  This year I have been very fortunate and I will be travelling for a family wedding in Switzerland with my daughter.