#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Jardins des Champs-Elysees, Paris

To wake up in Paris! Early, yes. Me and Frank, around 6:00 a.m. and ready to go for our walk to a cafe. We cross the Seine and find the cafe on Avenue George V that we go to when we are here. Coffee and croissant. I don’t even finish mine. Still full from dessert last night. He will go to his English speaking meeting; I will go for my long walk along the Seine. It’s sunny and warm. We are in the clothes we flew in on, still. Today we must find our bags or something to wear. I take a long walk until my daughter calls––she is awake and ready for breakfast. One thing we do is spend a good part of the day in cafes! We take the Metro, all of us, to find socks, underwear, clothes, etc. Some of us are more successful on this shopping trip than others. We are piecing together things we need with no sign of luggage in sight. No schedule, wandering around. Except I break away at lunchtime, grab a baguette with tuna and egg and sit in the sun outdoors at a cafe to participate in the Zoom call for those of us, around the world, who are offering the support groups to Ukrainian therapists. Our first meeting with each other; 18 of us on the call. I am glad I attend, because there is an exchange of ideas, and mostly of sentiments. I see that we have all engaged with this project with similar fears, doubts, and strengths and questions. Can we be helpful? How? With such unbearable losses and concerns? We are all inching along with the hope that holding the space can be meaningful and helpful. Later, I take a nap that I don’t want to wake up from. But I do, and we have a very fun evening of dinner and a concert: Joyce Jonathan at Nouvelle Eve. I skip dessert at another cafe, let them go on without me. I have walked 11 miles today, this glorious day in Paris, and I am ready for bed.

In the Metro station, Paris