Today's a good day to be grateful
Today was a good day for a walk, a good day to be outside. Also, a good day to be grateful.
Yesterday, they announced that a sunny and warm day awaits us. This morning, the sun was very much present as we made our way to our appointment with our cuisiniste. A cuisiniste is someone who specializes on personalizing kitchen equipment during its construction until its installation.
For B’s new apartment, we decided to leave the kitchen installation up to the professionals since it’s too delicate to do by ourselves. We had series of meetings with our cuisiniste and I am very happy to be working with her. She’s adorable! We can’t wait for the final product. Just looking at the 3D rendition gets us so giddy! It’s my Pinterest peg board come to life… almost!
After lunch back at the apartment, we headed out to make the most out of this rare sunshine on a winter day. Our destination: Place Dalida. Netflix Original Series’ Emily in Paris made me do it (see episode 5).
The RATP suggested we take the metro lines 14 and 12 but it’s such a waste to spend 40 minutes underground so we decided to take line 14, and take bus 95 from Pyramid to Place Dalida.
We missed the bus by 30 seconds. The next one was not until 12 minutes later. No worries, we just headed towards the next few stops towards the Opera. It’s a cool, windy day after all.
Funny, the other day, I was just watching The Voice (France) where a contestant caught my attention with her beautiful and original rendition of Dalida’s Laissez-moi danser. And now, we’re on a way to a square named after her.
Dalida, born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a French singer and actress, famous during the 80s.
From Place Dalida, we spotted the Sacré Coeur from atop and headed that direction. Along the way, we spotted a quiet corner overlooking Paris. Then, we made it to the Basilica through the twists and turns of the streets of Montmartre.
Montmartre is quite charming. It would be good to live here! Away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Too bad it’s too steep for my taste. It’s a nice, quiet neighborhood, away from the chaos that is Paris, but still lies in the very heart of the capital city.
Inside the Basilica Sacré Coeur, I lit a candle and whispered my intentions. Usually, when I enter a house of worship, I say a silent prayer. I still remember my very first wish when I had my very first visit to a European church: I hope I can keep coming back to Europe. Today, I couldn’t think of a prayer, nor a wish. I just felt grateful. I found myself grinning behind my KN95 mask.
In the Basilica, one can find small corners of chapels dedicated to different saints. One of which is Saint Benedict (Saint Benoît). I smiled with the thought of marrying a man called Benoît, when a huge part of my life was heavily influenced by the order of Saint Benedict because of the school I went to in my most formative years.
Two hours before the curfew, we headed down to ride the metro back home. I still have that package to pick up from Mondial Relay, and B, to get us our regular dose of bubble tea from Cha Time. Instead, we opted for the bus 54, got on it without knowing where it would take us. Merde. Eventually, we figured out how to join our usual metro line 14 from the newly opened station at Porte de Clichy.
While on the bus, I received an email, a rejection email from a job application I sent out a month ago. I can’t help but feel discouraged and sad. I locked my phone, tucked it away and looked outside.
It’s a beautiful day. I can’t let myself feel sad just because of this drawback. Suddenly, sadness turned into gratitude. I may not have a job at the moment, but there are so many things I am thankful for today and right now: I, more or less, have a source of my own income (however little and unstable), a supportive partner, a (somehow) secure future, a lovely home (current and future, both promising), my indoor herbs are slowly growing, as slowly as I am taking ground in this new phase in life and this new city…
My words seem to elude me. Bref. It’s still a good life. There is a glimpse of sunshine in the middle of this cold, dark winter. To better days ahead!
Slow down, refresh, relax, rest…