They are everywhere, and I am always surprised when I am first reminded of this. As though it’s an entirely new fact that is beyond the limits of my imagination.

Rolling my luggage down the street, the first place into which I stopped to say hello was Le Menhir, where Eva was to be found. It was a quick and welcome hello and I explained that I would return once settled.

Which I did, before enjoying a beautiful walk during this gorgeous and warm Parisien night. I met her friend Tony, originally Italian though long ago immigrated to France after World Wars I and II had left nothing for his family. We talked politics, I understood only about 50% of what he said; at all the right and incomprehensible moments, based solely on their tones and expressions I declared ‘mais c’est incroyable!’,  ‘vraiment?!’, ‘oh!’, and/or ‘my God!’. Honestly, they could have said ‘THE SUN SETS IN THE WEST’, and my sorry ass might have replied ‘REALLY?! MY GOD! BUT THAT’S INCREDIBLE!’

I was a buffoon in a pretty dress.
Anyway. The café crème was as delicious as I had remembered.

When I was here last, it was freezing and alternately snowing and raining. My last day in France was covered beneath a snow storm; tonight, I went out in a dress, a light sweater, bare legs and flat summer shoes. I spent so many of last summer’s evenings inside, that I don’t remember the last time I felt the warmth of a summer night spent outside. For near two hours, I let myself wander before picking up some groceries and Google-mapping my way home.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. A healed left ear. A healing right ear. Though there was no infection in my right ear, I stopped using q-tips in both ears eight days ago. I should have known there would be a little hurt in the right ear, which there is. Drops today at day one; seven more days to go for the right ear. Pray I am doing the right thing with these drops 😔
2. A healing but definitely about-to-bruise back.
3. The kind kiosk fella who ran out to hand me tissue when he saw me unceremoniously fling my phone face-down in the certainly infested stream running down the side of the dirty Paris sidewalk. At least I flung it face-down, so it didn’t seep into the back of my phone and wreck it. Yay. But honestly, I nearly binned it after I had to pull it from the gross water and just typing this makes me want to snort Lysol. (I cleaned the phone with white vinegar, in case you’re wondering.)

Paris | Feb 27, 2019

Comments closed.