Another gap exists, a number of life leaps have been taken, and I don't know how to return to blogging without having some sort of bridge to get me from where I last was to where I am now.  Of course, the bridge has been built every day and I have been crossing it with every decision made, in choosing to make my musings public again, it feels like a chasm exists that is pretty darn wide!

Here's the nutshell: I am living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, back to the soil I dug my fingers into as a child.  I married the guy who I moved to Abu Dhabi for (in hindsight, I can say that, even though I would've never admitted it when I left Paris for the desert), and we've been married for over two years and are therefore entering the second round of our visa application for his residency.  We have an amazing, joyful, beautiful daughter who brings me endless smiles and touches my heart in ways I never thought was possible.  We own a house, have a German Shepherd dog, have to rake leaves, mow grass, and much to our chagrin, will be shoveling snow soon.  I am nearly finished with yet another Master's program, but this one will be finished properly, all wrapped up in a graduation, degree, and Director of Instruction license in December.  I miss my friends now scattered all over the world; I miss walking out of my door on rue St. Sauveur to the bustle of life in Paris, I miss daily surprises and wonders tucked around corners of tiny streets, ending in conversations over wine and tartare with girlfriends with whom I could laugh or cry; I miss my amazing colleagues and teachers in Abu Dhabi, the days of endless sun and heat and fast driving and beautifully sharp smells of oud and incense.

The collective mass of experiences and people and memories overwhelms me.  But when I have those moments here in America, I  take on projects and bury myself in work or moving winter jackets into the coat closet and boxing up the spring ones; in Paris I would've stopped and sat alone in a cafe to reflect and think about what it all means.  Here, my daughter wakes up from her nap and my alone time is cut, and I am happy to run upstairs and lift her out of her crib and provide the shoulder she wants to lay her head on until she's ready to move.

It's all about moving forward.  As Obadyah would say, "just keep putting one foot in front of the other," and sometimes that is enough.  I don't know where to start with new reflections, new topics to explore, new ideas worth writing about--much less sharing publicly.  So this will be the start.  And we'll see where it goes.  If it goes.