When we learnt that my grandfather was about to die, that was around Saint Valentine's day (we celebrated his 88th birthday together on February 4th - I thought he was going to have 100 as he entertained us (almost) like he never did before), I told my mother that he was so original that we had to prepare ourselves for the fatal issue by Feb 29th.
So, on Friday, I was sitting (as elder son of my father who was the elder son of my grandfather, which makes me also the elder grandson of his) at the front of the car following the hearse.
It was a hot sunny day as he used to like. Fate made the way quite unreal. We drove by his house. At a crossroad, an armoured car of the company he worked for after he got retired from the Armée de l'air, let us the priority even if it was to us to let them go...
At the cemetery, a fighter of the Aéronavale made a low altitude passage, a good summation of his military career...
It was my tenth February 29th. Something says to me that this one will remain the one engraved in my memories.
Finally at home, I felt a bit special and a song that surrounded me pulled so loud in my head. It sang that it had been a strange day, such a strange day...