Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Support

The closer this journey comes, the more support I find.

And I'm simply amazed.

In the past two days, I've had emails flying back and forth from Paris to Cleveland, Cleveland to Paris, welcoming me to the City of Light, from people I've never met, people I may never meet, strangers more than happy to help.

I couldn't do this without this network of friends.

So thank you, Jim, Valerie, David, Denise, Michael, Gregg, Xian, Marlin, Melissa, Christopher, Jeff, Dallas, Jen, Beth, Lecia, Stephanie, Brit-Brit, Robin, Ben, Susan, Kurt, Will, Michael, Brian, Michael S., Doug, Nancy, Carol, Joe, Mary, Keith, Robin, Dennis, Bill, MaryLou, Danielle, Scott, Tim, Terry, Nikki, Dave, Ashley, Ali, Scott, Adam, Amy, Lawrence, Michelle, Holly, Michael, Terri, Tara, Mo, Bill, Randy and so many others who have supported this craziness from the beginning.

I couldn't do it without you.

Thank you.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Doubts





Since deciding to take this journey, I've occasionally had my doubts about this decision. On the surface, it is a fairly crazy thing to do.

Take a month off work, sans pay, go to a country where I really don't speak the language, I don't know anyone, and haven't been there for 20 years. What am I thinking? But the Metro is easy, I remember. And the food is a world unto itself. And, hey, this will be fun!

But today, I was overwhelmed with doubts. Some were the same I've had for months, the "what if's" of this adventure...what if I get bored (not very likely), what if I run out of money (as long as I stay away from Chanel and Dior and Louis Vuitton, I'll be okay), what the heck am I going to do at night (I'm pretty sure I'll find something to do). What if? What if?

Today was different. Today I had the big doubts. WTF am I doing? Is this really the right thing to do? I even considered postponing or cancelling altogether.

And then, the postman appeared at my door. At my door. Not at the mailbox. He didn't drop and run. He rang the bell and handed me an envelope, saying it was for "Miss Lisa" (ha! love that!). The photo is what was in the envelope.
I'm still going!





Monday, January 4, 2010

Bonne Année, 2010!

First lesson of 2010, how to navigate luggage across many, many steps!