The 52 Project: a portrait of my children once a week + every week in 2014.
Lena: What a wonderful week we’ve had! Last Thursday we flew to Paris to meet up with my parents-in-law, and for the next four days we explored the streets, museums, cafes, and boulangeries to our heart’s content. Those of you who follow me on Instagram have seen some photos already, but I’ll be working on the best of them to share over the next week or so. In this photo, Lena is sitting in the children’s corner of Shakespeare and Co. enjoying books with another little visitor. I’ve wanted to visit this bookshop for years, and it was thrilling to finally wander through the book-filled rooms. It’s about as close to Midnight in Paris as you can get in real life.
Gil: We spent one day whole day visiting Versailles, where the magnificent gardens and musical fountains were our favorite part. I took this picture shortly after we arrived, worn out from long lines and ecstatic about green grass. This photo reminded me of one I took of Lena two years ago in Germany in the springtime. We love those buttercups!
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And now we’re home, sorting through piles of laundry, restocking the fridge, and helping children get caught up on sleep. I wondered if there would be a horrible post-vacation crash… you know, the one where you just want to go back to wherever the food was better or the surroundings were prettier or the responsibilities were lighter. That is a familiar sensation to me. At other periods in my life after I came home from vacation, I could barely lift my head off the pillow to start the day. Work or school or relationships or loneliness just felt too hard to face. I’m sure you have had times like that, too.
Well, the post-vacay low hasn’t hit me yet, although maybe it will as the routine gets a little less desperate and a little more… routine again. I’ve been realizing, though, that I have a daily life that I really love right now, and so the sweetness of Paris doesn’t feel as much like a sugar rush (and daily life doesn’t feel as much like a sugar crash) as it might if my everyday life or routine was hard to face every morning. I’m grateful for that. There’s a balance and a peace to my life right now, despite the Cheerios underfoot and dinner prep I should have started an hour ago…
How about you? Are you glad to wake up in the morning these days? Or are you looking forward to a time when you’ll feel more like that, such as after you graduate or after your kids are older?
What a sweet post! I like how you are finding it easy to come back home, even as you enjoyed the feast for your senses in Paris. Looking forward to more posts of your trip!
Thanks, Mom! Not saying I don’t want to move there, though… sigh!
I have loved following along on your Paris trip via Instagram. I can’t to hear more about it :)
I always get the post-vacation blues! We usually remedy it buy dreaming of other places to go. Or moving lol. The grass always seems greener on the other side. I sometimes wish we rented so we didn’t feel so stuck. I just have to remind myself that we have a good life here and despite the hot summers and cold winters, it is a great place to raise our family :)
Well, if I had waxed more philosophical, I would have said that I think part of the reason I can appreciate Sicily is that we have a limited amount of time here. A time that is ending in just a few months! So if I think about it that way… it helps me to carpe diem.
I always get itchy feet, though, and I totally know what you mean about the grass always being greener. Maybe it’s not another person’s life you want, just another place, another town, another chance to start again. I don’t know what life will be like when we really settle down! There will be a whole new host of emotions (and issues), I know.
That Gil is going to be a heartbreaker! :) What a cutie pie.
I would love that bookstore I think (I loved the movie).
We have only two months left in Germany, I am simultaneously counting the days and getting sad about all the aspects of daily life we will leave behind here.