Reposted- Day 21 of 21 French Selfies of Fun – Sunday – I can’t count!

Repost of old content- great vacation- to a new location.

Day 21 of 21 French Selfies of Fun – Sunday – I can’t count!

Apparently, Sunday is a great vacation day for the two of us. Last Sunday we had an epic day in Provence. The Sunday prior was Bordeaux. Yesterday was a near-perfect day in Paris. This coming Sunday -Emeryville! {sigh} We’ll work it out.

Yesterday (Sunday) I was up early and went down for the 830 Mass at Notre Dame. It is still there and didn’t collapse on me and lightning didn’t strike. I enjoyed the quiet time but the Zoo that commenced after (the tourist tours in the church wings) was stunningly offensive to the senses. But I guess if a man is going to dress in a dress and stick a smoking ball and chain, it is worth a selfie picture on a stick. [ No, not me… by my legion of selfie stick friends did this. Yuck, I found myself not liking the selfie stick!]

I took one of the rent-a-bikes here and I was all wrapped up in my scarf, with a bow tie and flashy colors and circled Notre Dame a couple of times looking for Chris.  I’m sure I looked the fag American trying to look French. It was magical -like a wicked-witch-of-the-west magical. Tourists took pictures of me.

Chris and I got to experience the joy of me breaking my phone-we spent 30 minutes in the same plaza not able to find one another.  Such fun! If you are going to Europe, plan to buy an unlocked GSM phone that you like and get a fully functioning SIM card.

Chris and I then explored the Latin district, which charmed us. The Sunday market was the perfect spot to stroll in the rain and to grab a quick breakfast. I am going to miss the petit dejeuner – the perfect combo of coffee (espresso), a croissant, a bit of baguette, butter and jam. I wanted a cigarette just because EVERYONE, EVERYONE, EVERYONE else was doing it. Dear lord the folk in Paris smoke.

Chris found us a great lunch spot for a slow lunch where I was able to use the ceiling on the mirror to take a fun selfie and to check the progression of my horrible dye job. More importantly, we checked in about our goals, the vacation and what is next for us. We napped, I did some writing and we started planning our final day in Paris. We live like this back home. It is a bit sweeter rolling our routine in Paris.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the return home- wanting to make sure I don’t slip into my normal post-vacation depression slump. I usually either bury myself back in work to ignore the sadness, or I go to a dark space slump. My dark space is feeling a sense of irrelevance – that the world is so vast and the challenges we face are so big, that I should just lower my head and jump back on the treadmill and stop my bitching. I sometimes feel like a tiny ant in a world full of ant hills. My angst is the fear of not being noticed. That probably surprises nobody. What’s your dark space? 

So rather than that – or in addition to that – I’m committing to embracing the gratitude I gladly owe this life and my partnership with Chris. To manage the depression, I plan to push my way back into doing art, continue my workouts and slow my pace down. Vacation has reminded me of the joy of sleeping in and doing nothing. I will continue the hunt for the perfect Pain O Chocolat! I’ll be the ant with a croissant, si vous plait.