A Life Changed Forever

photo courtesy of DK publishing

Seven years ago today I arrived in Paris for the first time. Not only Paris for the first time, but my first time ever out of the US. My younger daughter Jenny had just graduated high school, with four years of French under her belt, and this trip was her graduation present. My friend Susan came with us and for 10 days we had the time of our lives. Small cafes, museums, flea markets, food markets, shopping, sketching, journaling, cafe au lait, croissants, macaroons, pastis. From the top of the Eiffel Tower to the ruins of the Roman Baths beneath the museum at the Hotel de Cluny, from Versailles to Giverny, sunsets on the Seine and morning fog on the Rue du Bac. This trip was magical and memorable in and of itself, but it was also a gigantic turning point in my life. It opened up the world to me and I have never been the same.