Designing a Life

The title for this post was inspired by the fact that this is the last part of Catherine's impromptu visit to Paris and she is a talented textile designer. But the significance goes a little deeper than that because she left me the following note before she left for Brussels (Lara and I will be spending a weekend there soon!) by train. Hopefully pretty pictures will keep you patient with my introspection.

danielle--

thank you so much for hosting me (as impromptu as it was) & showing me around your 'hood! I am continually impressed by your ability to make changes, adapt, and thrive. your sense of adventure, intellect, & independence are to be admired. I am so lucky to have you as a friend!! good luck with everything - you will do great - as you already are.

Love you & see you sometime soon!
Catherine

I came home last Monday to find those words waiting for me. First thought: I definitely have the best friends in the whole wide world. Second thought: I guess I should stop being so hard on myself for not having life figured out yet. She's right, I am doing well thus far. This revelation complemented the rest from the Media Evolution Conference, and echoed a quote Lorelei recently shared with me.

"I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." -Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

After introducing Catherine to my original neighborhood (in all its Parc Monceau glory), we metro-ed to the northernmost point of Canal Saint-Martin (near last year's Thanksgiving meal). We took our time weaving in and out of shops , even stumbling across frozen yogurt (!), until we made it to the Haut-Marais and decided on a very late Lebanese lunch at the Marché des Enfants-Rouge.

{Antoine et Lili}

{Baci Bisous' frozen yogurt, nature avec framboises}

{Artazart Design Bookstore}

{Hier, aujourd'hui, demain}

{Le Marché des Enfants Rouges' Lebanese falafel sandwiches, rosé carafe}

I was obliged, of course, to take my design-minded friend to Merci next--where we spent about an hour and a half, as to be expected--and then out for 5€ mojitos at Le Kitch in celebration of a fellow grad student's birthday. It was so nice to sit back and relax in the company of familiar faces at a place I know so well. There was a sweet sense of belonging. I felt... Parisian-esque, if you will.
Later that evening, we chose to extend our stroll through the rest of the Marais and across the Seine, all the way to the Long Hop so I could wish Lara a happy first day of grad school. And the following day, Monday, I went to PageYourself's office in the 20ème, and Catherine left me a note.
As a toddler, Sleeping Beauty (or "Seepy Booty") was my favorite movie. In kindergarten, I dressed up as Jasmine (from Aladdin) for Halloween. I can distinctly remember seeing Toy Story in theaters and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. In other words, I was raised on fairytales and happy endings, and unknowingly became a GYPSY. I believe Walt's words in that: "we have a lot of story to tell," yet as I settle into my 25 years, I'm realizing how little control I have over them. Though I can and should work hard, it's not only up to me. The sweetest parts of life right now have been borne from la chance; whether it's joining a sorority at Syracuse (in Catherine's case, we pledged together) or meeting a special guy at a going-away party in Brooklyn (in Lara's case, he's a high school best friends of hers). Suffice to say, I'm finally okay with not knowing when I'm "coming back." I'm comfortable and at ease here, and am even contemplaiting tickets to Disneyland Paris, one of the few places I've yet to explore. Closing thoughts for a happy weekend:

• the best "stuff" tends to happen outside of the plans we make,
• home is more than a place, it's a feeling,
• and if we're lucky, we'll always have more than one someone to remind us of such.