Au revoir, Paris

Our last day in Paris was also my birthday, and we spent part of the day packing and cleaning up and meeting with our landlady, but we made time for a special dinner at one of our favorite nearby brasseries. One last confit de canard, one last carafe of wine before we head back to reality.

I was going to title this entry "Goodbye, Paris," but I realized that although it was time to go, it was not goodbye, it was just au revoir―till we see each other again. We'd surely be back soon.

A year earlier we were dreaming of Paris. The dream came true and turned out to be a wonderful year for all of us. We were sad it was over, of course, but besides the sadness of leaving was a feeling of joy and happiness, a sense of accomplishment for having taken the chance to make our dream come true and of deep gratitude for having been able to live such a great experience.

As Hemingway said in his memoir A Moveable Feast, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." I was not as young as Hemingway was when he lived in Paris, but I knew Paris would stay with me all the same. 

We joked that that may have been the best year of our lives, but it certainly is one of the best. The kids loved it too and even thanked us for "making us come to Paris."

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
― Dr. Seuss