Exactly a month from now, I will have arrived at a destination most elusive and desired. A place that for the majority of my adult life, has mesmerized me in ways I can barely understand. I can't pinpoint exactly when the love affair began. Perhaps it was a movie or a travel blog I read somewhere. Perhaps conversations with former European co-workers fanned the flames into a raging bonfire. When it was all said and done, something inside me clicked and I knew that there was one place in the world I needed to visit and experience before I died. That place my friends, is Paris.
Just to clear the air, there are no ill-conceived assumptions or cliches to blame. It simply happened. Just like when you first catch the eye of that certain someone and that feeling overwhelms you day and night. In this case, it has never stopped overwhelming me. But what is Paris in reality? The cliches are ridiculous in their enormity and popularity.. One of the most visited cities in the world renders its visitors helpless and penniless all at once! Some fall in love to the point that they leave their possessions astray and make the permanent move. No matter how much reading or prep work I've done, it will never fully prepare me for what I am to experience. Paris is an idea, an idea that seems to move like smoke, and like smoke, it lingers all around me.
This is the third time I've planned a trip to Paris, with the previous two occasions being hijacked by either finances or pregnancies. This time I am going. And I know I will come back changed. I know that the smoke will clear and give way to something otherworldly, something beautiful. As I think about the upcoming journey I feel a landslide of emotions. I can almost touch it. It's almost there, in front of me. It was meant to happen this way.
Those closest to me know how important this journey is to me. Hell, I've even dedicated blogs to Paris on this very site. At this time I will be cruising the Seine during my first night there. I will marvel, I will eat cheese, I will drink copious amounts of French wine, I will ogle at everything and anything, in awe of the City of Light. I will come back changed, for the better.
Paris is an idea. It becomes a reality July 24th. For seven days, everything else is on hold.
I actually Googled "words to describe Paris", and one of the first recommended links said "No words to describe". That is probably the most accurate depiction I've yet to hear.
"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." Ernest Hemingway
