Paris!

Have you ever had an idea in your head of something you want to do before you die?

Something that has been floating on the top of your bucket list but seems too extravagant to approach right now?

Or have you talked yourself out of something that was urging you to jump at a chance, feeling that you were being reckless and too impulsive to really follow through?

How do you reconcile that?

Well, this is what I did—and I’m so glad I did!

My daughter has had a crazy-sad-commemorative year. She’s lost her father, her brother and a best friend from childhood. She’s dealt with ALOT. As a sole survivor, she had to wade through the legal-stuff, the stored accumulation of their lives not to mention the mind-boggling after-math of decisive loss—how can life be here so big and full, then poof, it’s gone? How do we wrap our minds around the fact that when we leave home in the morning, we might not come back?!

I had a bright idea.I called her and said, “‘Wanna’ get out of here for awhile—wanna’ go to Paris?”.

And then I began worrying—how much will this cost—that’s the big question.

Who will manage my business?

With the world in seeming turmoil, are we crazy to travel internationally?

Well, we did it!

Had I waited until I could more easily “afford it”, I may never have done it. I’m getting older. My legs aren’t as strong as they once were and time just may not be on my side, after all. So—we just did it.

It took some planning and finagling and just the right people to make it work.

I called a couple of gal-friends and one of them included her daughter, nearly the same age as mine. As luck (or whatever you call “it”) would have it, our trip took flight (literally) on Mother’s Day—I took that as an opportune sign.

Not all of us knew one another but that didn’t take long to remedy.

One of our French-savvy gals found a perfect VRBO in the middle of the 1st Arrondissement which is close to EVERYTHING, it seemed.

The weather? Well, as I was reminded, “no one goes to Paris for the weather”, lol. It was chilly and rainy with just enough sun to lure us out into the playground known as the City of Lights. Maybe later in May would have been a better time but the week after we left, the city became a steamy cauldron of 90’ weather—I guess we lucked out—since Paris is not known for its air-conditioning in those antiquated buildings.

We took in many of the favored sites—Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Left Bank, Shakespeare’s Book Store, Mont Martre and Sacre Couer, we strolled Marais district and Less Passages. We ate—mon Dieu—we ate! Don’t get me started on how much I love mashed potatoes, Parisian style.

But you know what touched me the most?

It was how we figured things out together. It was the deep conversations that came after we had tromped the territory, having seen the sites and learned what it’s like to be the foreigners in town.

Not all of our phones worked properly.

The GPS wasn’t always discernible.

Who knew (besides the Parisienne’s) that the Metro could just “stop” and kick you off to your own devices (if they were working) to find your way to the airport—just in time (oh my!).

But—you know what?

We did it.

We used each other. We relied on strangers. We asked questions and received just enough information to manage.

Kudos to us.

Kudos to those who helped us.

Kudos to you for reading this…

May the force be with you as it was with us, with a good dash of courage, naivete’ and luck for whatever dream you choose to follow.

FYI: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the re-sale, thrift store shopping that I did in the name of my upscale resale shop, Snazzy Boutique.

We found a plethora (is that a French word?) of shops—all within walking distance in the 1st Arrondissement. We had to wade through many American brands—but I found them and they are on-sale now in my shop in Oxford, Ohio.

Please stop in some Wednesday or Saturday to peruse the goods!

But—the real message here is—JUST DO IT (there’s a reason that’s a famous tag-line, methinks!)

Abientot

Gini