Skip to main content

Paris - final day and final thoughts

This morning we had our last cup of coffee and last croissant in silence.  I know that I am full of thoughts and wishes about our trip and I'm sure Bridgete is as well.  We got to the airport in plenty of time.  And far too soon, we were leaving Paris and back in Boston.

There are few things I wanted to say about my trip that didn't seem to fit with my travelogue.  I knew that I would enjoy Paris.  I had read about it and thought about for many years now.  And even though several people had told me beforehand that I would fall in love and want to live there, I took it all with a grain of salt.  I've traveled before and seen some very amazing cities, but nothing compares to Paris.  It is another world.  And it is indeed a world in which I could imagine myself living.  There is a quietness, a peacefulness, an elegance and a dignity to Paris that I have never experienced before.  I've always craved a kind of quiet in my life - but never knew what the quiet was until now.  Because it isn't a quiet that comes from being alone.  I know that too much alone is not good for me - I become depressed and eat and drink too much.   And yet too much time with others in this noisy, pushy, busy world exhausts me.  And I am forever seeking a balance.

It was only a day or less in Paris and I had that balance.  I felt a part of everything and everyone.  I wasn't overwhelmed by people and noise and chatter and distraction.  I was intensely focused and delighted.  I ate and drank far less than I do at home - yet I never felt deprived or denied.  I saw so much beauty that at times, tears would simply gather in my eyes and my heart would ache.  I laughed easily and often.  I felt at home.

This was the perfect place for Bridgete and I to have time together, too.  Without the business of life, the distraction of school and work, we were able to feel again our deep and lasting bond.  To know with just a glance or a nod what the other was thinking, feeling, imagining.

I'll stop here, just because I don't want to cry! I know what I am supposed to do now.  I am to return to Paris as soon and as often as possible. 


There are more of my pictures on Picasa -  link below - and Bridgete, who is a far better photographer than I am, has her photos here.



paris


 

Comments

disabled account said…
i hope you get to go back often and that every trip to your home away from home is just as peaceful for you as the first one.
September 11, 2010 at 9:21 AM
CSD Faux Finishing said…
Thanks for sharing all of your memories and beautiful photos of such a great place. It is wonderful to find your comfort place, I hope you do get back as soon as you want and can! :-)
September 16, 2010 at 2:16 PM
Sassy Jane Genealogy said…
Beautifully put! You've inspired me to go.
September 22, 2010 at 11:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Grapes of ???

I watched the John Ford film of Grapes of Wrath last night. I started out just enjoying Henry Fonda's wonderful performance - so easy and real. But I ended up wondering if our nation really learned anything from the Great Depression. What is the great crime in Grapes of Wrath? It's a crime to be poor. It's a crime to need, to ask, to worry. And it would seem that it is still a crime to be poor. We entered the depression of the 1930s a nation of haves and have nots. Those who had - those in power - scrambled to hang on to their wealth while the have nots scrambled to gather the scraps. And as I look around me today, as I listen to the news, I hear those same echos of those who have grasping for their power while the have nots silently fight to live and make it to the next day. Last night I woke up thinking about the recent discussion of the increase in the minimum wage and what it would mean to businesses and that it would actually cause jobs to be lost. It sounded ...
5 comments
Read more

Random Thoughts about my Mother

It's been a very hectic month for me.  I got very sick right after Thanksgiving and was barely able to hold my head up, let alone sit at a computer for long.  Got back to work last week and was good for the work day, but still pretty tired when I got home.  At long last this week, I started to feel like myself.  Then yesterday afternoon, my sister called me.  Our mother has died.  Not unexpected, but still a bit of a blow.  She lived nearly 92 years, her birthday is January 16th.  So in the interest of remembering my mother and returning to regular blogging, I present Random Thoughts about My Mother. Mildred Irene Wallock Watt.  My mother was born in January 1918...just before the end of WWI.  Los Angeles was a different place then, a collection of small towns, some manufacturing, some agriculture, some business.  Her father moved his family there when the film industry was locating there because the sunshine and variety of landsc...
5 comments
Read more

It just sucks...

You want to know what the worst part about moderate to severe depression? (using the clinical diagnosis here) It's knowing when those waves hit you that there is something or someone out there that you let get to you. In my case, it's usually a combination of things. I've got multiple projects coming to deadline at work - stress. I'm not sleeping very well because of allergies. I'm not eating like I should be. I'm getting my exercise - walking, yoga - which is a positive because that's usually the first thing to go. And so I'm vulnerable to those triggers and I know it. I avoid mr. ring on his finger 'cause that will just send me over the edge. But I can't keep him from coming onto my floor and sitting down at the cubicle next to me and talking to someone else. So I put on the headphones and hit play on Itunes and what do I get....love songs. Crap. And even he wouldn't get to me if the really big trigger hadn't been flipped jus...
6 comments
Read more