I Will Always Have Paris!

Paris! Paris! Paris!

Paris has always been the dream for me.  Since childhood, I have wanted to live HERE.  Life seldom if ever, works out just the way we dream it,  but we can live our dreams!  My dream as a 5-year-old in Chicago was to live in San Francisco and Paris.  Of course, I believed I could do one first then the other with no understanding of time.  Or money. 

But still, I realized my dream!  I have lived in San Francisco for 31 years, and for nearly 9 years I split my life between an apartment in Paris and my job and apartment in San Francisco.  I created a life that provided me with the freedom to work remotely, or using the buzzword of the 1990's "telecommute".

In 2009 I gave up the Paris flat.  I would have loved to keep it but a perfect storm of high exchange rates on the dollar, a flat market for my services, and an unethical tenant made releasing the apartment a best-case solution.

Now it's 9 years later, I'm semi-retired, following my creative desires AND....... 4 years ago I returned to Paris!

Never let go of a dream.  Know that it may not happen as desired, but with persistence, it happens.  I am currently housesitting for a friend off on vacation. I'm also looking again for a permanent place of my own.  Meantime, I'm enjoying the sunshine on her terrace, the huge sunny French windows, and visiting with friends.

I passed the Eiffel Tower in my Uber the other night as the sun was starting to set. It was 9:30pm and still the most glorious sky.   I was completely aware that this was my reality even though I passed it 2 or 3 times a week. In that perfect moment I realized how lucky I am that regardless of the struggle and hard work, planning and strategizing, I was in Paris living, not in San Francisco dreaming about it.

I have a very happy life in San Francisco and in Paris.  I may not be in the apartment of my childhood dream which was facing the Arc de Triomphe from a direction that also allowed me to see the Eiffel Tower, but I am here!  I don't even want that any longer.  I love the neighborhoods where the locals live.  I love being by the Canal St. Martin in the 19th district.  I love being a piece of the fabric of Paris.  I'm not a tourist or a visitor.  I'm a part of the City.  I'm living my dream!

Live is a Banquet and I'm feasting on my dreams!