There was a few moments on Saturday that I might have said differently, but after about 12 hours, the city had worked its magic on me and I was a goner.
I did fine on the train ride there, which is saying a lot since it was a 6:25AM train out of London and there was a family of 4 sitting next to me for the 2 hour journey.
Of course, like usual, where I am, craziness seems to follow….So I get off the train fine, find my way out of the station fine, get a taxi fine, I'm even able to give him my address to the hotel in perfect French…just fine….then we pull away from the curb…just fine…
Then the realization hits me - where are my sunglasses? I remember taking them out of my backpack to rearrange things before I got off the train…did I put them back?!?!!? After a quick search of my purse I realize I forgot them!!!!
"STOP!" What's the word for stop - I can't remember?!!? My sunglasses are gone!!! And not the cheapie kind - my prescription ones….my $300 prescription ones!!
So the taxi sows a bit and he kind of pulls over, I can only assume it was because he thought he had some crazy woman in the back of his car.
I just hopped out….completely just hopped out! I had my stuff and everything, and we had only gone about 10 yards, so its not like I had run a bill…well, there is the minimum fare and all….but come on….he was at the train station he can get another fare easier than I can get new sunglasses!!
Back into the station I go….Yeah - I can still see my train there!!!
Now this is where it might have been good for me to try and retain some of the French I had learned in High School, because I can not explain to you how hard it is, how stupid a person must look, when they are trying to make other people understand that they have lost their sunglasses to people who do not understand what sunglasses are. It was like some warped version of charades or something!
To their credit, though, I think they kind of understood and off the guy zooms to the train that I was on. As luck would have it, I was on the train farthest from the platform…
30 minutes later, 4 separate explanations of the situation later, 6 more people watching me play French/English charades later….my sunglasses are gone.
The conductor was very nice though, as were the 3 train ladies (I call them train ladies only because I have no idea what the train equivalent of a stewardess is), also, the 2 cleaning people that looked through their trash bags were very helpful.
Now before you get all on me about pulling all of these poor people into my drama and making people look through the trash, let me assure you, I had no idea what was going on!! I asked one security guy and it just sort of snowballed from there. One person told another person, etc., etc, and before I realized it, there was a search party looking for those sunglasses.
Then the thought hit me - I hope they understand that these are sunglasses….just sunglasses…that they are supposed to be looking for….I mean, they are putting a lot of effort into this, its not like I left a kid or anything…they were just sunglasses, expensive yes, but just sunglasses.
Anyway, as I said, in the end, no sunglasses.
So off I go again to the taxi's, a little bummed out, but it's OK - 16 years I've been wearing glasses and never lost a pair, so I suppose its not so bad, and besides, I'm in Paris…lets just put things in perspective here.
As we zoom through the streets of Paris and I try to take it all in, the thought just keeps nagging at me….I can't believe I forgot them…I've never done that before!
I remember taking them out of the backpack and rearranging things, I remember stuffing everything back in….do I remember looking at the seat again?
Yes! Yes I do, I did a final check! I always do a final check! Thanks mom and dad! They always made us do final checks whenever we went anywhere. Except some how we lost a pillow or two of moms along the way, and a change purse, too. But we were always supposed to do a final check!
I know I did a final check!
Ok…now I'm like Rain Man with these sunglasses…I seemingly can't accept that I might have lost something!
So where could they be? I checked my bag and my purse and they weren't there!
Ok - think back….start at the beginning, why didn't I put them back where I got them out of….which pocket did I grab them out of?
Oh - the little front one….OK…why didn't I put them back in there?
Hmmm…not sure….oh wait…I didn't check that pocket….
Oh look! The Eiffel Tower!! C'est tres Manufique!
Where was I in my train of thought….the pockets…oh yeah! Why didn't I put them back in the little front pocket?
Wait, I don't know that I didn't…I don't think I checked that pocket….
Oh look!!! There's my sunglasses!!!!
Oh, now I feel a little bad that I had someone…2 someones actually….look through trash for nothing….but in all fairness, I didn't ask them to do that…I don't even know the word for trash in French, so how could I have asked them to do that?
Oh well, they'll never see me again…I feel bad, but one can only do so much…I'm in Paris after all, they probably all hate me anyway as soon as I open my mouth and they hear the American accent come flying out.
C'est la Vie!
I get to the hotel and I check my luggage…well, my big back pack really…and no, not the infamous 'Lets pick me up some Gay Guy' back pack, though…this was a different one.
I really think that any place is made up of more than just its parts. Take Paris for example, I visited the main things in one day…the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Paris Opera House, Arc de Triumph, and even strolled along the Champs Elyse. Yes, I enjoyed those things, and I am glad that I saw them all….but, where is the place that I felt the most like I was 'in Paris'?....the place where I said, 'wow, this is what I thought Paris was all about'….it was as I was sitting along the side of the Seine, sipping hot chocolate and letting the sun warm my face.
You see….that's what I mean about Paris (but its applicable to any place) being more than just the sum of its parts. You have to see things for the whole, not just the parts that the tour guide points out.
So there I was, Sunday afternoon, lounging along the banks of the Seine, among the aspiring artists, weekend poets, and a few pretty decent musicians, and the thought just hit me….I am content…I am relaxed…I had totally forgotten what this felt like.
When was the last time I felt like this, hmm, well, it must be…oh…say…hmm…..well, when was the last time that I was totally, completely relaxed and content? I have no idea…that’s probably not a good thing.
Content…hmmm…my guess is that the meaning of that word does not contain anything close to, "a content person has had 8 separate addresses across 4 different states and 2 countries in less than 10 years" Relaxed….well, lets just not go there….honestly, I'm surprised I spelled it right without using spell check.
I think London is having a bigger impact on me than I had originally thought. Maybe just being here, coming without any expectations as to what this next phase of my life holds for me has made me realize that its not the things around me that I need to be contentment with, its me that that needs to be content with myself, who I am, where I am in life and then the rest will come. Yes, I need to relax, but maybe I need to relax about me more than anything? Maybe I needed something bigger than a zip code change to make me see myself and my life in a cleared perspective?
Hmmmm…these are deep thoughts and questions for a beautiful Sunday afternoon along the Seine, but I am within 1 kilometer of the statue of 'The Thinker', so maybe something is actually in the air around here.
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