COUNTRY MOUSE-CITY MOUSE, A MONASTIC RETREAT - Part 2

Remember the story Country Mouse-City Mouse??  I read it many times to my children when they were little.  I always felt fondly toward the Country Mouse who so loved his simple, comfortable lifestyle.  I think, perhaps, I was the Country Mouse...in the suburbs!  I loved hanging clothes on a clothesline outside, I loved baking homemade goodies for after-school snacks, I loved cleaning house (even tasks like washing windows).  I tried a little gardening (I don't think I was meant to be a farmer!!!) and I tried canning (I had a farmer's daughter neighbor who taught me!!!).  Country Mouse!!!

And then I visited the city, the big city, New York.  I was mesmerized.  I remember walking down the streets in a particular neighborhood gawking at the apartments, brownstones, markets, and seeing people going about their lives in this busy, noisy environment.  And I told David, "I think I could live here!".

The holidays anywhere are fabulous, but in New York City everything becomes magical.  I'm told that's also true of Paris.  I'll let you know!!

Fast forward many years and, as you know my story, that urban lifestyle fantasy came back to me via our European travels, then to our townhouse lifestyle and now to Paris.  Now I am City Mouse.

Perhaps.

One afternoon of the retreat we walked with a friend down to the Loire River.  It was pretty, but I was most enamored with some of the stone cottages along the river where people lived.  The yards, for the most part, were lovely with lots of trees and flowers and the cottages looked just like you imagine or read about it books.  What would it be like living across the road (seen below) from a river like this?

Later, we took the opportunity to stroll through the little village (what's the difference between a town and a village?????) Saint-Benoit-Sur-Loire.  It was a cute little place with a market (we only saw one-surely there's another somewhere!!!), a couple of small hotels with small restaurants, a boulangerie-patisserie, city hall, a school, a community center, some small businesses and a cafe.  We walked down the quiet cobblestone streets stopping for an ice cream cone and again I wondered how everyday life would be there.

The village of Saint-Benoit-Sur-Loire

I think I could ride a bike here!!!

And I wondered if I could be a Country Mouse again???  Driving to the retreat, as I mentioned in my previous post, we drove through many "villages".  Some were very small (not for us) and some were too big (not what I'd want either-might as well stay in the city).  But, then, there were some that were just right (I'm back to children's stories -  The Three Bears!!!!!).  Cute, stone buildings, small cafes, flowers in boxes and hanging from light posts, open markets and people shopping, chatting with friends or sharing a cafe.  Could I live this type of French life????

David and I talked about it later and decided probably not.  For one thing, it would require two things we currently do not possess-a car and fluency in French!!!!  Of course, both of those could be acquired,  but a move like this would require something even more important...a desire and choice to stay in France....perhaps permanently.  Neither of us is ready at this moment to make that kind of step.

I told David this morning I still (after 3 1/2 months) have moments of feeling as though I'm ready to go back to the US now...not because I'm feeling depressed or sad, but just because it sometimes becomes tiring hearing a language you're not familiar with around you all the time, because it sometimes is exhausting and frustrating not to find a product or item you're needing and because it seems like so much effort to walk everywhere (even though it is good exercise!!!).  HOWEVER, I also have moments of feeling as though I could live here forever (is that bipolar????!!!).  On a clear night when we're walking home from church and I look around at the beautiful buildings, when we've been out shopping and decide to stop at a little cafe and have a treat (or coffee!!!), when we walk to the market (see what I mean about the walking???!!!) and pass old historical monuments and cross over the Seine and see the Eiffel Tower I think this is the only place I want to be right now.

And maybe that's the answer....right now.  I don't know about tomorrow, but right now, this isn't bad and it's getting better.  And that's enough for me.....