julien

It was not often that someone escaped Breaux Bridge and made something of themselves. So it came as no surprise to anyone when Julien Wright didn’t either. Like every person he knew growing up, he’d had plans to make it big; it didn’t matter what it was so long as it sent him on a trajectory that was in any direction but the Bayou Teche. But wanting to get out wasn’t enough to free him from his hometown, it never was. The place had a way of pulling people in and keeping them there for life and Julien was no exception. In fact, he was the rule.

His story began in 1972, the year Georg Samuel Wright met Renée Mouton. Their marriage wasn’t one of love that grew and blossomed over time, but of necessity. Julien had surprised the couple long before they were ready to talk about the possibility of a future and children together. Though the world was progressing forward, Breaux Bridge was stuck in time. The couple felt as if they had no choice but to marry and so they did. They married and settled down for what they knew would be a long road ahead: getting to know one another and falling in love after starting a family.

While their marriage had every reason to fail, by some miraculous effort, and eventually unwillingness to put effort into finding new partners, they lasted through the years. And, perhaps in part of the general good behavior and calmness of their first born, five years after the birth of Julien came the birth of their daughter Rosalie, followed swiftly by a second son they named Alexandre.

Always a thoughtful child that spent too much time navel gazing rather than running around with boys his own age, Julien was the quietest of the trio of children, the older brother who took care of the others when necessary but never the type to seek out a conflict. In spite of the shaky beginnings their household was built on, each of the Wright children were taught that nothing was more important than their family. As rebellious and wild as they could be, they were surrounded by relatives as they grew up and were given a deep sense of their Cajun culture.

Being the quiet sort who kept his head in a book, achieving a higher education was always a goal Julien kept in the back of his mind. Only the timing was never right, there was never enough money. And so, after finishing high school, he went straight into the fishing industry in an effort to save money and eventually make a difference for himself.

However, history was doomed to repeat itself for the eldest Wright child. It was during this time he began seeing the unstable impulsive Marie Aloïs Beaudin. The two had attended school together, and though they ran in different circles, once school was behind them they found common ground. Their clashing personalities made them a good match. He calmed her down and she brought out his adventure. After eight months of dating, Marie found out she was pregnant. When faced with a pregnant girlfriend at 20 years old, both of their dreams were put on hold. Instead of entertaining the plan of going to school, making more money and finding a home became the goal. The two married on February 30th, 1992, five months before the birth of their daughter, Felicie.

By the time young Felicie was four years old it became apparent that working at an entry level fisheries job was not going to be able to support them for the rest of their lives. And so, after finding that they could just squeak by on their limited income and savings, Julien went back to school. Not for literature as he’d dreamed, but for biology. Fish, to be exact.

Eight years after their first, their second daughter – Bonnie – was born. And like his parents before him, they, too, had a third child – Samuel – born two years after that.

It was easy for Julien to love his children. They were his and he had always wanted a family even if under different circumstances. It was, however, difficult to be thrust into parenthood for someone who was not ready. The ever reserved man was not used to screaming children and never having time to think, it made him long for the days of having no one to contend with but himself. What started out as escaping into the backyard with a drink for a minute or two to breathe, turned slowly and steadily into a problem. A problem with long reaching consequences.

The wakeup call came on the morning of August 20th, 2007. After months of progressively worse fights that escalated to no longer being hidden from their children, Marie was gone. At first there was no word but a note on the kitchen table telling him she was sorry. Then eventually came a phone call trying to explain herself further, but there was no excusing what she’d done. She told him that she’d saved up money and had decided to leave, that she couldn’t take the stress anymore and couldn’t take the children on her own. Nothing he said could change her mind or bring her back.

And so, it was time for life to change. No longer could he escape to the backyard or the bottom of a bottle, no longer could he be the absentee parent who depended on his semi-better half to pick up his slack. So began the process of trying to heal the family of a wound that they would never completely recover from.

In early 2011, Felicie was accepted into the Linguistics program at Larson State University, taking her further than anyone in her family had ever been. This took its toll. In December 2012, Julien and his two younger children made the move to Larson in support of the eldest Wright child and out of a need to make a change in their lives.