13 Days (but who's counting!)

Departure date: June 8th. Passengers: Tracy, Lili and Noa. Destination: Chester, Connecticut. Yes, this is earlier than expected. No, the school year will not be finished. Yes, the girls are ecstatic. No, Ethan will not be able to join us on the 8th, he needs to stay in Paris until July 15th. Yes, he will be visiting us for a week in June and depositing the dog. I know some of you have already gotten an advanced copy of the headlines but for any of you who haven't, this is the news. Why are we leaving 5 weeks earlier than expected? It's a long story. One, that if you have been following us for the year on What's that Smell?, you can probably figure out all on your own. In short, Lili got sick... again. For a long time. As a family, we were trying to figure out what to do. We were getting close to the end but 6 weeks of school still remained. Six weeks of stress, anxiety and depression for Lili. At the same moment we were contemplating our next step we received an email from our tenant in Chester that she would be moving out at the end of May instead of the end of June as planned. We took it as a sign. We needed to go home. It wasn't an easy decision but we came to the conclusion that it was the best decision for us to get the kids home, let them spend some time in CT before we head to Cali, get things organized (a little) and get started on our project for next year (and many years to come, I suspect) which will be the house. We are sad to be leaving Ethan for several weeks on his own. But he will be in Paris, where there are plenty of restaurants and bars to avail himself of, should he wish. So at this point we have a very limited number of days to fit in the things we didn't do yet. Number 1 on the list: Top of the Eiffel Tower. I know, I can't believe it either, but there you have it. Other than that, walking in different neighborhoods we love and eating as much as we possibly can, come in at a close second. I'm surprised to say that I actually have friends who want to have going away celebrations for me (which, of course, makes me more sad to be leaving). Ethan and I spent the day together today and because I have a nasty cold, we decided to do something low key. We saw the new Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris. What a great film. Go see this movie and see it soon. There are some surprises in it, that if you wait to long, the secret is sure to get out and it will take away some of the fun. I'm so glad I saw it before we left because I would definitely miss Paris too much if I saw it when we were home. And pretty soon, we'll be home.