Parting Thoughts

It’s 3:53 a.m. in Paris, France. At 5 a.m. a taxi will be coming to take me to the airport to begin the first leg of a journey that will land me at 4:35p.m. (10:35 p.m. in Europe) in Newark International Airport.

This is a time of struggle… Today I struggled to find all of the gifts I wanted to bring home to loved ones, this evening I struggled to cram 9 months worth of clothes, souvenirs, and gifts into a very limited luggage space, and right now I am struggling to comprehend that in less than 24 hours I will be in my own bed, I will have embraced my family, nearly smothered my dogs, and I will no longer be in Paris, France.

Between you and me, Internet World, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Parting is such bittersweet sorrow (or something to that effect), but being gone for nearly 3/4s of a year has been no small task. I’m struggling to figure out if I’m devastated to be leaving or if I’m elated to be coming home. In the interest of avoiding frantic mood swings, I’ve just been in denial.

Today, however, I made a point to visit my partner-in-crime, Dana, and say good bye to her home-stay; a group of some of the most amazing people that I have ever met (I’ll have to get into them later). When I communicated how upset I was to be leaving Paris and wonderful people such as them, Yves, the father said,

Don’t be upset to leave, because leaving means that you get to experience the joy of returning when you come back.

It was such a profound statement, and Yves shortly followed it with some sage advice to live in the moment. So, that’s what I’m going to try to do; live in the moment, appreciate each second as it passes and revel in as much of this wonderful experience as I still have left. Right now, in this moment, my life demands that I break into the collection of pastries that I stowed away for this morning.

Le Blog

When I started this blog, my plan was to have it updated and complete by the time I returned home. Clearly that is not going to happen, but I still feel compelled to expound upon all of my adventures, so I will be maintaining Restless Spirit Syndrome until at least that goal is accomplished.

À bientôt!