I have flown for over 8 hours, been on a train from Paris to Avignon an
d rented a Fiat that I am driving to Vaison la Romaine. Not only am I unsavy on technological stuff but I don’t speak any french. I am really just now getting comfortable saying Bon jour and Merci. So when I set up the GPS to guide me 40 miles to this beautiful place that I can’t pronounce, I was a little frazzled. I just began doing everything the GPS said to do. She directed me in with no problems. She even spoke english! I am forever grateful GPS Angel.
When I say, I hope I make it back home in two weeks, I really hope to be coming home. If for some reason I am not home when I should be, please know I am lost. Please call reinforcements. I must look like a deer in headlights but frankly, I don’t give a damn. I am having the best time and meeting some of the most wonderful people. This experience has already surpassed what I could have imagined. Tonight, I dined with 10 of the most amazing people from all over the United States, Canada and France. Patricia and Walter Wells are two of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met but yet they exude brilliance and authenticity. I want to absorb every word they speak like a sponge. I love the fact that they are teaching these cooking classes as a team. Both of them used to be journalists which I also find so magnificent. Another one of my own aspirations that one day I will write something worth reading. HA! For now, I will do it for fun!
One of the things we all have in common here at Patricia’s is the love of great food. And, we get to sit under the Provençal Stars with a breeze of the Mistral and bottles of fabulous wine and talk about how we all came to this one spot in Chantanduc. One of the students said what I was thinking – “it is like our souls have known one another and came here to congregate under the stars”. This whole experience really is spectacular.
I personally wish that I could freeze frame moments because I don’t want to forget or miss any of this experience. It is more than I could have wished. I am super proud to say, I am doing it even though I have doubted my decision. I have felt I couldn’t afford it, that I couldn’t get away from the girls, that I couldn’t leave my cooking in the states. The list was long but I didn’t listen to the nah sayer in my mind (and some who said it to me) because I am doing it.
I can’t imagine how foolish I look here in Vaison la Romaine trying to pronounce anything in French. But everyone has been so helpful and kind. A father even hopped on his daughter’s bike as his family was walking and he led me to the driveway of Patricia’s home. Her driveway is almost a mile long. And, don’t believe a word people say about snobby french. They may be in Paris but they aren’t here in Vaison la Romain. Again, warm hearts all around.
I want all the Mom’s and women that may be reading this to please give yourself something wonderful. Whether it is a trip by yourself for a weekend, a week trip with your significant other, a two-week trip with your children, a month summer trip with all the family. This trip took three years to make happen and the planning and anticipation of the trip was just as much fun as the trip. I know I am a better mother and person for it. Not to mention, a better cook. Here’s to saying “Life is too short, I am doing this!” Au Revoir!