People and Places

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today..."
-James Dean

Life is a precious and valuable gift that I never want to take for granted. The one which I am fortunate enough to be living is one to cherish. After a year full of insanity and new experiences, I shared my final evening with the Bouyoux family, and found myself in tears once they were all in their rooms, ready for bed.
Since September, I've rediscovered the dreams I used to have and managed to figure out what kind of person I want to become. There have been an abundance of times when I was completely lost and confused, and many nights of homesickness and frustration. What got me through the unpleasant and emotional times was a combination of knowing that I am in the city I'd dreamt of for so long, and knowing that there are people who love me and think of me with each passing moment.
Now, after having come so far from our first successful bath-time together, Etienne has found a permanent place in my memory and my heart. I was there when he started speaking French with his family, when he sang the alphabet song by himself and wrote his first word, and when he started washing himself in the tub and buttoning and unbuttoning his own clothes without any help. These memories will stay with me, along with all the dozens of cookies and batches of pancakes, the bedtime stories and stuffed animal friends, and the ongoing adventures of Captain Etienne and his pirate crew.
Of all the people and places I've seen during the past ten months, his family and Paris remain my favorites. I don't want to leave them, and it is certain that I will return over the years to come.

This is not the end of an amazing adventure, it's only the first of many chapters in my life. College, Disney, the Peace Corps, world travels, and maybe even realizing my childhood dream of being the first ballerina to dance on the moon are all ahead, among the unlimited options of the world before me...