One Month and Counting

One month left.  Five years ago, if someone gave me the chance to spend a month in Paris (or London or San Francisco or many other places for that matter), I think I would have been dazzled by the offer.  One whole month.  But from this end of my Paris sojourn, one month seems vanishingly short.   And those of you who don't like seeing the countdown timer I recently added, how do you think I feel? Am I sad? A little.  Weepy?  Not yet.  Panicky?  From time to time.  Busy?  Definitely.

Many people have asked me whether I will continue blogging when I leave Paris.  I'm flattered.  Truly, it amazes me that there are people out there who read my work with their morning coffee.   I cannot thank you enough for your encouraging comments and messages of support.

But as for continuing, I can only say one thing for sure:  I won't continue to write about Paris.  At least not in the short term.  And that's because I don't want to go back to DC and be pining for Paris.  Paris was never for the long haul.  It was always a special time-limited offer, one that I've tried to make the most of. (Even when it involves ending a sentence with a preposition.)  I want to be fully invested in my DC life, however it evolves, and I don't want to be counting the days until I can go back to a reality that no longer exists. 

As for the issue of continuing to blog more generally, perhaps about reverse culture shock or  looking at the U.S. through a different lens, I'm not certain.  The experience of being an expat has given me clear boundaries when it comes to content.  What you see here is me, but it's only a slice of me.  I'm not sure the boundaries will be so easy to maintain from the other side.

So my friends, as the French say, on verra.  We will see.  Between now and then, I've got a good month of posts, some already written, others percolating, and others --- well who knows what I'll see along the way?  Stay tuned.