Home

They say that home is where the heart is, but I'm afraid that I left a piece of mine back in Paris. We've been back in the states for three weeks now and I still feel as if I'm on rocky footing. All of my hopes of maintaining some of what we learned and practiced while living in Paris for the most part failed to follow us home. We're back to 12 hour work days, eating on the fly and moving too quickly to savor the sweetness of a slower paced life. It's not that I want slow, but I could do without being pulled in 1,000 different directions at the same time. All is not lost though. I am happy to see our many dear friends and family (some of whom I hope we get to see next month!) and we are able to come back and enjoy the sweetness of summer in the Pacific Northwest. I'm not complaining about being back home as much as I'm noticing that life here involves many more compromises. Our sabbatical in Paris was such an honest way to live and I miss that integrity (and it doesn't have to do with not working while away, nor does it do with drinking wine at lunch, I promise!) Returning home felt like we had stepped through a time portal and within a few days we were right back into our old rhythms, albeit with a new perspective, and for that I'm thankful. I'll post more soon about our last week road-tripping around France, it was another incredible week filled with sun, surf and new friendships, and let's not forget the good eating! Suffice it to say, we'll be back but in the meantime, we're here and life is good--different, but good all the same.