Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Le Bon Voyage

My daughter recently left for her senior trip to Paris. We stood in the black predawn in front of her school while some of the fathers loaded luggage, and I watched her getting ready to go off and have the experiences that I hoped would make priceless deposits into her bank-of-life. Oh, the flashbacks!

When she discovered that her first name is French, we had to check out language books at the library. One year she wanted a computer language course so she could study over summer. To this day we still speak what I call “Pepé le Pew”—a mix of the words and phrases I remember from junior high and high school liberally interspersed with English and made-up words that I’m sure should be French. But over the years she grew to instructing me, gently and politely, and recently I’ve noticed that her Pepé is completely lacking in Pew….

One year it was the Madeline books, the dolls, and the clothing. She painstakingly constructed a replica of the Eiffel Tower out of tongue depressors for a school project, and I found myself going on late-night emergency tongue depressor quests.

Once when she was little she proudly announced, “I know how to French kiss!” I stared at her gap-toothed grin and tried to sound nonchalant. “Oh?” She leaned in and gave me a peck on each cheek. “That’s how French people kiss!” she chirped. How I smiled back at her, bigger and bigger! “Yes,” I said. “It is, isn’t it?”

She is no slacker, working hard as she has at various jobs to earn money for the trip (in addition to paying for things we can’t afford since the divorce), while still putting aside some for her college. For nearly a year now, she’s been getting gifts with a decidedly French theme. She’s slowly accumulated new cameras and passport holders and luggage tags and gadgetry. We’ve been through the paperwork and the checklists again and again.

Now I hugged her close in the dark parking lot. She has become La Tour Eiffel, this thin, strong girl who towers over me, and I now am L’Arc de Triomphe. It might be her bank-of-life, but I was the one who felt rich at that moment. And I kissed her cheeks au revoir, and I sent her off to become her own fine (French!) future self.

“…little girls who make their mothers live grow up to be such powerful women.” ~Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

13 comments:

  1. What a marvelous senior trip. I am sure this will be an experience that your daughter will cherish for the rest of her life...

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  2. I am just superstitious enough that I couldn't publish this until she was back. She came back looking Frencher than ever. She is bubbling over with Frenchness! It's amazing.

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  3. How wonderful and brave of you both! I'm sure she had an amazing adventure and will never know how much her Maman stewed and worried the entire time she was gone!

    Pat
    www.critteralley.blogspot.com

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  4. Alright ooh-la-la mama, send this off to Chicken Soup. You made me tear up, and smile; and the nostalgic French kiss took me back to my kids' childhood days. Recipe for a CS story, you know.

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  5. What an amazing experience for your daughter -- and you!
    Donna

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  6. Beautiful! You teared me up. . .again. Quit it, will ya? :) Great story, told in such a way that every daughter's mother can relate to it.

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  7. Oh this was marvelous my friend. I remember when my baby sister made that same trip. The quote at the end says it all.

    Here's to your powerful woman :)
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  8. This brought tears to my eyes! So beautiful.

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  9. What a beautiful story. I'm with Linda, send this in somewhere!

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  10. Thanks to you all for your kind comments! Pat, you summed it up. This maman DID stew and worry, but the delightfully bubbly young French woman who came back was worth it all!

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  11. Wow! This is awesome, Tam! And I didn't remember about your daughter's trip to Paree! How wonderful for her, and I would've been just like you...worried and not want to blog about it, until she was safely home!

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  12. This brought back memories of my middle son when he went to Europe for his senior trip. He was so excited, and we were excited for him.

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  13. Bless. What a beautiful and heart-warming post. And how wonderful for your daughter - an amazing way to spend her senior year.

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