We were truly, madly, deeply in love.
It was the early '90s and we had just spent a year merging our lives (his three sons and Ph.D.-in-progress and my uber-busy consulting practice). We took a honeymoon of sorts in the American Southwest. I can't tell you if we were in Arizona or New Mexico, but as we crested a rise on the highway, there rose before us something we'd only seen before in the movies: a butte. "Stop the car," I whispered. And we ran through the scrub holding hands, without words before such beauty.
Has the world ever taken your breath away?
For Deirdre Kelly, it was Paris. She made her first trip as an au pair and, looking back from the vantage point of midlife, realized that she'd been back eight times.
So she wrote a love letter to the city, called "Paris Times Eight: Finding Myself in The City of Dreams":
(1979) Deplaning at Charles de Gaulle airport, I desperately sought proof of the city's uniqueness, its enviable otherness in the faces of every one of the baggage handlers, custom agents and custodians buzzing around me... And then, waiting for my baggage, I saw the women, real parisiennes, a unique breed... They walked from the hip, the rolling, self-confident stroll of the born-to-it femme fatale. I will perfect this walk, I said to myself.What would you expect of a memoir set in the city of light? Food, fashion, art, romance? Mais bien sur! But the best parts are the insights as Kelly moves from ingénue to poised professional. And falls in love:
(1995) I had been alone in my apartment, making myself an espresso. It was morning, I looked out the kitchen window at the new day. "You are going to marry Victor," declared a voice inside my head, just like that, as I was reaching for the sugar. The voice was sober, sensible, not inflamed by infatuation. I thought it was a true voice, its message clear. I put the spoon in my cup, deeply aware that my life was about to change. But I wouldn't tell anyone, least of all Victor. No way. I was crazy in love, but not that crazy.
Springtime is coming, the perfect season for a trip to Paris. But is there a better time than February to treat yourself to a delicious book, a little plate of colourful macarons and a café au lait? Bon appetit!
(Gentlemen: Women don't only want heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for Valentine's Day. We like books, too. Nudge, nudge.)
Now, do tell. What place won your heart? What took your breath away? Where did you fall in love? And what special part of our planet do you cherish most?
Julia Moulden is an author, speaker and columnist. Read her HuffPost archive, which includes more about the New Radicals and the first columns about her upcoming book, "Ripe."
Follow Julia Moulden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juliamoulden
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I can't wait until my next trip to Oz!
Do write to us next time you're down under. I've heard from our Aussie friends from time to time...
Thanks for sharing this memory, SaigonHappened. Powerful stuff.
I've only spent time there between flights in middle of the night. So lovely to see it through your eyes.
Thanks, jengenq8.
I've often felt that way (and have lived in different places), but never completely uprooted myself.
Thanks for sharing this, SrAN!
For natural wonders, nothing has struck me as much as Yosemite Valley, and the Mariposa Grove. Truly awe-inspiring and purely beautiful.
I was already in love when I saw both, so that doesn't really come into the equation.
Reading all these stories, I think everyone should have a passport and enough money to see the world. We really do live on the most beautiful orb.
Yes, being in love made it more special - especially Yosemite, because my beloved and I were there together.
Refocus the mind and revive the spirit with a walk in the woods (Thoreau was right)
“Everybody,†John Muir said, “needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.â€
http://ow.ly/3XJpq
Another was sitting on the patio of my friends house in Carcassonne, France, with coffee in hand, watching the sun rise, the fog burn off and listening to the dogs on the hunt in the distance across the fields... makes me miss it all the more writing about it.
France sounds gorgeous, too. Know what you mean about how writing about it makes us miss it more. Many travel writers feel that way, I've heard...
Love the way you include sound in your place portraits, Bardsbabe. Thanks for sharing!
Happy Valentines
Hmmm...
Less than a year ago, my true love, first love, my soul's mate, with whom I had first joined 33+ years ago and had lost contact with some 26 years ago.
I just sent her her first valentine from me in 28 years: A Valentine's Day letter on unique stationary I made for her, a quart or so of raw shucked oysters (a favorite), and a 75 page book of my poetry I published just for her, including 6 new poems I'd just written her...
Yeah, _I_believe_ books make great gifts to the ladies, but time will tell! -smile-
BTW, I like the subject. I'm in love with New Orleans and the Atchafalaya basin - but I grew up there.
As for places I've visited, the beauty of northern Norway was surprising to me. The Rocky mountains - sans humans - up near the Canadian border, for example, or over in Canada. The forested lakes of Minnesota are striking, too. The azure blue of the Adriatic is very memorable... Muir Wood - and all the temperate redwood rainforested areas, are likewise incredible.
The places you mention are splendid -- will never forget Muir Wood, mouth agape at the grandeur. How lovely that someone thought to save them all those years ago.
Thank you, Julia.
...My lady's known as Lioness, and I'm Lion - from my poetry: Richard, the Lion Hearted. You'll find comments here at HP, particularly to Cara's articles, that use these monikers.
I'm afraid that my Lioness is going through a divorce and approached me perhaps too soon. Ours has been a difficult, long distance relationship as she navigates her divorce, especially since she's in an at-fault divorce state. ...Perhaps to help preserve her situation in that process, she has substantially broken things off with me in January, though in December, for a while, we were an officially committed couple. I know that short a negative event, one does not go from committed couple to indifference in this timeframe, and her actions have the character of outside influence, as, say, from her sister. Meanwhile, I am profoundly sad, but I am acting from the confidence and boldness of true, deep, profound love - of every type: to borrow from the Greeks, because English doesn't have the sophistication in the language of love, I hold for her, and I believe she for me, eros, agape, storge, and philia, all between we, the pair.
Whatever the cause of her stepping back, it's likely that she and I won't have any news for you - as you suggest we might - in a useful timeframe, but I very much appreciate the sentiment.
(continued)
...Maybe this is a good point to say to people, since there is an audience beyond you and me, Julia: PEOPLE, Pay Attention: DO NOT ever in your life for any reason whatsoever give a person who you care about in any way whatsoever "radio silence" in response to your own confusion or difficulties inside! It creates FAR more harm than the benefit you think may exist because you aren't articulating your situation. NOBODY does better with a lack of information, and it's a false premise that not telling someone the bad news saves them from pain.
...That said, m'Lady, deep in my heart I know Lioness and I are connected at a very profound level. That we can make it as a couple has yet to be seen. In the mean time, I'm not giving up - I will never give up unless and until she makes it clear that she doesn't want us to be us. Even then, I will always love my Lioness with everything that I am.
As for you, dear Julia, I love who you are as a person and love the incredible service you are providing us through your wonderful postings. I am, of course, your fan.
Richard the Lion Hearted
Its not far away. But in my heart and soul.
The next thing that took my breath away was diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Like being on a different planet.
yes, to the Reef -- I was there in 1989 -- like being on a different planet is a way to describe the entire continent down under. isn't this the most beautiful world??
thanks for this, Ganeshari!
Central Park - It's magical. You have this city, THE CITY, and smack in the middle of all the concrete and metal you have this huge, green park. You always see a lot of interesting people from all walks of life there. It's a special place. Of course I'm also in love with NYC, but I'm from there so I won't get into that :)
Lisbon - Something about this place got to me. The city felt alive and was modern, but also classic. I went on an adventure trying to find record stores even though I couldn't speak the language. The people there were so friendly and fantastic.
Barcelona - Just a great, clean city. It didn't feel congested like other cities. After a few days there I knew I could and wanted to live there.