Day off

The Monday after Easter, being today, is a national holiday in France. I still haven't figured out why such a secular country's national holidays still line up with the Catholic feast days. Nevertheless, the library is closed, the gym is closed, many businesses are closed....certainly the bank and any useful errands I might run are out of the question. So. I will write today in a café. I have become such a library junkie that writing in a café presents all kinds of obstacles (space, noise, outlets...!)....which is crazy because I remember countless hours I spent at Alterra in Milwaukee, grading papers and planning lessons and working on my teaching certification courses. That WAS my library! And I wish there was an Alterra in Paris. (Hmmm....an idea!?) But there are only Starbucks, in way of American-genre coffeshops. And the Starbucks depress me. They are dirty and all the same....but, in fact, if I want a big 'ol American coffee in a paper cup with a lid, it's my only option.

I don't know why I'm even bothering to mention Starbucks when there is a LOT of good news to share! First, I had an amazing visit from my friend Heather Foley. We share the same birthday (though she's a year ahead of me)...our dad's were roommates at Notre Dame...and we grew up with our families hanging out at ND tailgates or their family coming up to WI for various reasons in the summer. And Heather and I have always connected so profoundly, and yet we've never actually spent a stretch of time together. And ceratinly not as adults. So when her parents bought her a ticket to come to Paris for her 30th birthday, I was ecstatic! But life took crazy exciting turns for Heather at the same time that she was supposed to come last year....And hence she finally used her ticket this year. She stayed with me for 10 days, and never once did it feel cramped in my studio apartment. Cuz we do SO much the exact same way! Cooking was a breeze together, shopping for food, walking around the city, splitting up for the days so I could go to the library....meeting back up at 8pm to have a glass of wine and make our dinner plans...I was so lucky to have her here! We laughed so hard and sang Joni Mitchell and fought with our flipped-inside out umbrellas in the street, danced and stumbled home at 4am. Lingered over coffee and just had endless good conversations. She's amazing.

THEN, just when Heather left, my friend Molly gave birth to a baby girl! She and her husband Yann named her Savanna. Savanna Chevance. Beautiful. I went to the clinic less than 24 hours after her birth....and it was just increadible to see one of my best friends be SO very much HERSELF after going through childbirth. Molly is an absolutely beautiful mom...and I loved seeing her navigate motherhood...not knowing what to do, having loads of questions and sometimes looking lost...yet doing it all with absolute grace. (It's normal, i know, that giving birth doesn't somehow give you the absolute knowledge or "instinct" of motherhood!....but sometimes I fear my friends will take on a different, foreign persona after having a child!) So there is a new girl to add to the group...and she will have a lot of aunties!

And then, in much smaller news, I have crossed some major hurdles in my school year. Last semester was crazy busy, and this semester, though only taking 2 courses and writing my 100 pages, has seemed even worse. But I crossed a major bridge on Thursday. I finished 2 oral presentations....and those were either all or half of my grades in those 2 classes. So now I just have a 15-page paper to write for one class (and believe me, 15 pages is nothing these days!)....But for the most part I am just focusing on my own research and writing. And I've already got 40 or so pages under my belt (though 40 pages which still need revising)...and I'm working on the next chapter, which flowed right from the last, and I just feel such a sense of relief. That I can work now at a normal pace, and without the added stress, I can ENJOY the writing that I'm doing, without pulling nearly all-nighters to meet deadlines amidst preparing for other classwork.
So....now off to a café I go....maybe it will be a Starbucks....but I will enjoy the "Lundi de Pâques" holiday (Monday of Easter)....AND luckily Charley is still teaching his Ashtanga 2 yoga class this evening. I will be there.