Writing in Paris

While I spent a lot of time alone in Paris, the other part was spent with Jordan and Paul Ferney. By the end of the trip, I made a joke that every time Jordan came around, Paris got even prettier. When I was alone, sometimes I would find myself in a mess of tour buses, Paris t-shirt racks slapping me in the face and tourists saying, "I'm just here to see the Mona Lisa. Where's the Mona Lisa?" Then Jordan would arrive and suddenly carousels, churches on hills, and cobble stone streets would appear. That really happened. Here's the picture she took of me shortly after it did. Look how happy I am!

Staying at their apartment is something I'll never forget. After their kids went to bed, I watched as Paul painted and Jordan worked on the details of her projects in their living room. There was no music, no TV chatting in the background. It was mostly silent while they worked. The windows were open so I could hear cars passing and the occasional outburst of laughing from the people in the cafe below their apartment.  If I looked out the window at the right moment, I could see the top of the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Once in a while Jordan would ask for feedback on a project. I was flattered she asked me for advice. Perhaps she was asking Paul, but I assumed the questions were for the room. 

I couldn't help but be influenced by their creativity so on the second night I borrowed one of their laptops and wrote. I wrote for hours and hours while they worked. I'm sure I could have seen more of the city had I not stayed up so late, but I enjoyed writing so much. The kind of creative writing I started to do in high school and continued doing in college. It was great to be working on something again. I did the same thing the next night and the next.  It became my nightly routine.

Today was my first day back. My life picked up right were it left off a week ago.  I helped get Ella ready for school. I scrambled eggs. I watched an episode of Wallace and Gromit with the boys. I unpacked. I cleaned the dishes from breakfast and put some laundry away.  I made chocolate chip pancakes for lunch. Napped. Bought some milk and vanilla ice cream at the store.  As Oscar was wailing down the street because he didn't like the flavor of ice cream I bought, I wondered if the Paris trip ever really happened. There's noway I was in Paris yesterday buying flowers and beignets and exiting stores singing, "Merci, Au Revoir!" just like Jordan taught me.

So this evening, just to make sure, after the kids and Rob went to bed, I wrote for a few hours to see what would happen.  Would it be the same without Jordan and Paul in the room? Without Paris's beauty and culture motivating me?  It wasn't the same, but that didn't stop me. Here I am at 1:34am still rewriting the ending of this post.  And enjoying every minute of it. Au Revoir!