Dear friends,
Bonjour! From literally my favorite place on earth.
(Well, I haven’t seen everywhere…) But Paris, even before my first visit many moons ago, this city has always had a golden frame around my heart.
As I spoke with a friend (oh yes, you know my travel partner and fellow writing comrade Reid, whom you can also follow along with) about my integral love for Paris, I looked upon a Luxembourg Gardens building front illuminated by the noonday sun, and realized that maybe I’ll never know where the conception took place.
Maybe it’s my enneagram 4-ness.
Maybe it’s my ache rooted in the desire to exist in a reality that is not the present.
Maybe it’s the part of me that will always exist within the perimeters of my hometown county lines…
But maybe it doesn’t really matter.
Why are we the way we are?
We search and prod and pry through personality tests and lineage lines and birth orders; we ask questions about our biology and past and social upbringing. But this trip to Paris made me want more than anything to not want. To just,
Eat.
Sit.
See.
A city that so often begs for your attention like the sparkles on the Eiffel tower every hour, on the hour (fun fact I recently obtained) was on it’s knees asking “Will you be here? Will you try?”
Obviously there is always a time and place to go back in order to move forward (the wise words of enneagram expert and personal hero of mine Ian Morgan Cron). But after a pandemic and perhaps the hardest year(s) most of us have had, could self reflection be put aside and self acceptance can be acquainted for a moment?
Could maybe,
just maybe,
serenity be found on the other side of accepting your reality?
I’m learning French. Or trying to at least.
I believe the saying goes c'est la vie
“That is life”.
And oh, what a life it is.
//
Reminder that if you are so inclined, join your prayers to mine to lift others up in a world that often seems so full of conflict. Pray for your own heart too. I know I am.P.S. I miss my dog but not much else. I’m working on being present. Because where else is there to be?
Visual Diary:
What’s the phrase? “A croissant a day keeps the doctor away”?
Would I have even gone to Paris if I didn’t (head over to Le Petit Bouillon Pharamond for steak and fries and escargot that will change your life. The best the best bang for your buck too! $)
Tale as old as time <3 (jk I think the Eiffel tower was built in like 1887)
Perhaps the most memorable museum experience of my trip thus far. Monet's water lilies located in The Orangerie Museum. I spent more time contemplating here than anywhere than anywhere else. My notebook heard all about it (I’m sure one day you will too.)
A delicious, fresh, sun-drenched lunch. To be honest, not really sure what I ordered; or rather, what the manager of the local joint assisted me in ordering. Wine at lunch has become customary In my preferable routine.
Another Paris emblem for me: Shakespeare and Company bookstore. Being in the same place where Hemmingway, once found so much solace and camaraderie… priceless. (P.S. I highly recommend reading into the history of the owner of the shop, Sylvia Beach. A renegade of a woman who believed in writers we hold so precious now but were not well-received back in their day)
Don’t forget!
Listen to the Cageless podcast and connect over on Insta. This week’s pod was with my friend Andrew of Poolhouse New York if you need to know What To Do Next. :)