Montmartre...

A quaint little place that I never would have found without Charlie and Vicki~
Montmartre...
I think it was my favorite place in Paris!

Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.
~ Rain by Shel Silverstein

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower...My Iron Angel.
What an amazing experience in so many ways.
I went to the first level, it was so high up~ 376 feet I just now read, wow it seemed higher.
This is where I met some of my new friends Vicki and Charlie from Iowa~ (I think she will send me a photo of them soon). Charlie asked me to take their picture so I did and we all started talking. We were waiting together in line to get to the top~
The top is 905 feet above the ground, AAAAHMAZING!! :)
How beautiful and incredible is the view from up there~

Its shadow on the park below...
The amazing city ~ Paris...

The buildings don't have a lot of color, at least that is what I noticed from up there!
Here are a few photos from the Eiffel Tower~
And one Vicki took of me!

Happiness is like a butterfly (or dragonfly) :) which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~James Openheim

Paris...

I left my brother and my niece in Cambridge and headed off to Paris, with tears in my eyes~
Heading into the unknown~ Alone and uncertain. That time was difficult for me, harder than I had expected it would be. I wandered to the train station with my rolling suitcase in hand and fear in my heart.
I took the train from London to Paris~
The first night was hard~ I walked around to try and get familiar with where I was staying. I went out to eat and ordered something not so tasty because I could not read the menu and no one there spoke English~
I headed in early and wrote in my journal,and read my book.
It is already lonely in a new city by yourself, but speaking a different language made me feel even more isolated that first night. The rest of the trip I was able to meet a lot of people that spoke English so that helped! :)
The next day I headed out to see my moms favorite museum, Musee d'Orsay ~ It was incredible.
Then I headed to the Eiffel Tower and when I came up out of the metro~ I saw it...
My Iron angel~
From that moment on, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be!

Happy 70th Birthday Mom!

Today my beautiful mother should have turned 70 years old. I would have called her today and wished her a Happy Birthday, she would have taken us all out to dinner and treated us because that is what she loved to do. It was her birthday tradition~ Over the coming weekend my mom, sister and I would have met for lunch at one of her favorite restaurants and had massages. We would have told stories and laughed a lot and maybe even cried a little. It is so hard for me knowing that we will no longer be able to do these things.
What we will do instead is get together for dinner to celebrate her life. We will celebrate her birthday because she would want us to be together. She would want us to be happy and remember her. She would want us to continue to celebrate her life and our own. We will silently miss her tomorrow like we do every single day.


Today and always we celebrate you mom. And the incredible and amazing person that you have always been. We will celebrate how lucky we have been in this lifetime to be your children and grandchildren. We will celebrate how lucky we are to have you as our mother.
I love you and miss you as much today as the first moment you left.

This day and always....
I love you mom!
~Tiff