It wasn't not so much any one specific thing or incident or person that made this past year so amazing, but rather what we experienced during the entire year. Living and working (at Pascal's for Susie) in Paris was really a dream come to life. Just going about the daily chores, keeping to a routine of daily life in in Paris was something we will never forget and already ache to recapture. Susie has come to realize that baking is the absolutely right direction for her life now and there is no going back on that simple fact. (photo: Susie at Pascal's in Paris.)
Equally important, we readily and openly acknowledge that we feel very much at home abroad. Odd but true. We just feel comfortable there. No, I'm not sure why. The language and occasionally bizarre cultural issues can be challenging to be sure, but, I suppose that is what makes living there so dynamic; the simple energy we felt in Paris or Siena or Florence is very palpable and hot to the touch.
Ultimately, though, it is the social side of living in Europe that appeals to us. I don't mean the "social" as in parties and the like. No, I'm talking about the social fabric that is so patently alive there as opposed to here.
What I mean is that while we have come to feel at home in our new space in Providence, most days one can walk say the mile or mile and a half down Broadway to downtown and find very few people sharing the sidewalks. In Europe, by contrast, people are everywhere on foot it seems, families, students, elderly (thank you), business types, all walking, roller-blading, jogging; the entire social tapestry of the community is out on foot in other words.
We miss that deeply.
Still, we don't regret one thing we have done.
We have seen some truly wonderful and marvelous things in the past year, reconnected with old friends (who are not "old" at all), and found several new friends along the way, visited wonderful places, eaten great food, sipped some of the world's best wines and just savored the joys of being alive.
Another revelation of sorts is that for two suburbanites, two Midwesterners cultivated in the smallness of Middle America, we now find ourselves curiously enthralled with life in the "big city." And Providence is just the right size for us, and with the right attitudes we think.
Anyway, we needed to return to the USA in order to find a home for at least the foreseeable future, get our lives in some sort of order, and get our things out of storage so that we might continue the process of downsizing as we plan for the (permanent) return to Europe.
The New Year promises to be even better than the last, though, and I'll tell you why.
We have family nearby in New England, a few folks we can truly call good friends with whom we can share much needed laughter and good food, a nice home, a Mini Cooper (40 mpg thank you very much), and good health. Our prospects look good and, whatever may happen, like Rick says to Ilsa, "We'll always have Paris. . ."
The future is, I think, pretty much what we make of it.
We hope your future will be plagued with ceaseless joy and boundless happiness each and every day of the year. Really. I mean it.
Happy New Year! Buon Capodanno!! Bonne Année!!!
Wish you were here,
Steve
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