Paris 2012: My Favorite Things

One of the simple joys of my life is having fresh, clean laundry and an empty hamper. It feels like such a large victory - to get the suitcases all unpacked and put away, sort the lights from the darks, and hear the swishing of the water wash away the sediment of travel. It is a sweet thing - to enjoy a day of routine and recovery after returning home from one of the best weeks of my life.

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Tim and I got home from Paris last night - exhausted, but happy. Our one-year anniversary trip was a success, in every sense of that word that I know... and let me just add for those who are curious, that carbohydrates have never tasted so incredible, and I actually had a dream last night about chocolate croissants.

Throughout my life, I've accumulated mental snapshots from movies and gleaned descriptions from books, about what Paris is like - about the cobblestone streets, the rose-hued light at sunset... about how it is a city for lovers and dreamers, a place to go and 'find oneself' while musing along the River Seine. After seeing it for myself, I can honestly say that it lived up to the majority of those expectations - it was both entirely unique and entirely real, and I want to learn French now. To sit at a cafe and overhear it, hour after hour... it was so lovely, and soothing. The desire may pass by this time next week, but I may or may not have already started studying some vocabulary words this afternoon...

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The entire week was an adventure. Sometimes like a roller coaster, sometimes like a safari... but always just simply life. Half the time we were there, I felt really stupid - the other half of the time, I felt bookish and smart. Some examples of the contrast:

Most of the Parisians know two languages. I only know one... so that's definitely 1 for the 'feeling stupid' column. Then, there's the fact that without my husband, I'm convinced I would have had NO idea how to navigate the intense (but efficient) transportation system of the city. My feet hurt from the walking, even though I was wearing good, supportive walking shoes and the French ladies were wearing heels. And sometimes I just felt quite simply behind everything else going on around me. But then again... there were moments when I really excelled on this trip - and it is so nice to have those moments when you remember the skills and the experiences the Lord has given to you, to aid you in your life... I absorbed as much of that blessing as I could, each day.

We were constantly surrounded by bookshops and history and old architecture, and the old academic and literary subtleties of the culture seeped into my brain - my fanciful, scholastic aspirations were on overdrive! All those college semesters of Art History came to life, and all that interest in church history throughout the years finally became real to me after seeing Notre Dame, Saint Mere Eglise, and all the other gorgeous cathedrals we stood in awe of during our trip. For a city that I assumed would be preoccupied with fashion and food, it was a week unexpectedly saturated with learning - and I am so grateful to have experienced it all.

And of course, Tim and I also learned a lot about each other too... which is something you do usually expect to happen in some ambiguous way when you travel - but you never know the how, and you never know the when - so the adventure of making those discoveries, rather than the discoveries themselves, is the part that really makes you grow.

I watched Tim navigate the streets and the bus systems, in a way that I honestly don't know I could have ever done. I watched him as he carried all of our heavy bags, as he made sure to always be one step ahead of what was going on in the trickier situations we found ourselves in... and I was grateful for the safety I felt - even in a foreign city, thousands of miles from home and familiar hospitals. It was nice to know that no matter what happened, he and I were still us - and that the Lord has put this man in my life to help provide for me and take care of me on trips like these.

It's still so strange, not being a single girl anymore... sometimes I forget that I don't have to do everything on my own. I've always carried my own bags, figured my way around places, gotten to the airports on time, and just... figured it out. It's surreal, those moments when it really hits me - that someone else is here to help me out with all that now. Admittedly sometimes, it's hard to let go and trust another person with those things - but such sweet relief, when I actually do just let it go.

When I'm scared of missing the last bus to the airport, and I have too many things to carry, and it's late, and i'm sweaty, and transportation is expensive, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do... it was a gift from the Lord, to have a husband who was not worried - was not scared - was not clueless, or weak, or insecure... but strong, and able, to figure it all out in the steady way that I need. The steady way that the Lord knew I needed, long before I discovered it was possible to find. To be in Paris with someone that I fully trust, fully love, and still cannot believe is mine - that was a true gift. It was the best part of Paris, for me.

Second place was definitely the bread... :)