The third time Paris has changed my life....

(Disclaimer: This has been much on my mind lately, and I think it's time to share. I am speaking of the world as I know it, and only of my experience.)

I'll tell you about the other two times some other time.... but for today:

Some pictures from Paris, and an epiphany.

These are some of the most beautiful sights from our Paris trip:

I liked these Paris sights even better:

But the real epiphany came when we got home and I realized, I like these sights the most. The every day, the "mundane". The most beautiful.

SO. The point of my story is this:

I was always jealous of people who got to travel. I was having babies and keeping a house and looked on as my friends traveled the world, enjoying young single-hood. I am getting my turn and it is really fun and I am glad we have had several opportunities. But there is something very important that I want to share:

Walking into a place like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel tower, or standing at the rim of the Grand canyon, or walking through a national park or wherever it may be that you're seeing the world is amazing. There is a rush of awe, feelings of wonder. But trips always end. And you have to come home sometime. For all the feelings of wonder and delight and excitement of traveling, they cannot compare to the soaring joy of being with the ones you love. People matter. Trips are fun. But love and people are what make life worth living. 

These little moments are where I find the true meaning in my life. I think it took a few trips and a few children for me to realize to the true value of what I have and how I have chosen to live my life. And the emotions I feel when I am living every day life with my family eclipse any I have ever felt anywhere else. 

I will close with a little paragraph from my journal a few months ago:

Tonight as I checked on my babies before going to bed, I was overcome with emotion. Somewhere, some time, someone must have expressed this better than I can... But the are times when the intensity of the love I feel for my children is so strong I almost feel suffocated by it. Like someone is reaching into my chest and physically squeezing my heart. It is almost overwhelming. The depth and breadth of emotion - both the joy and the pain- that I have felt since becoming a mother has made me feel intensely human... I have never felt more alive.