We lived in Paris last summer for a month and our good friends visited us for a week and treated us to the experience of a lifetime:  dinner at Guy Savoy’s, a 3 star Michelin rated restaurant.  The dinner took six hours and their nanny watched all of our kids as we drank, dined, and chatted.  I haven’t chatted with them for six straight hours since I gave birth to my first child (almost 15 years ago).   This was, to me, the best part of the meal.  The rest wasn’t so bad either.  ;)

I am not able to articulate the level of  kindness and generosity that lives in our friends’ hearts.  This dinner is only one example.

I wasn’t really online much while in Europe over the summer but was emailing with a BFF of mine from Brown who lived in Paris years ago and she was asking where our apartment was, what we were up to, etc.  I caught her up to date and told her about our amazing adventure at Guy Savoy’s, laughing that I didn’t even know what a “Michelen rated restaurant” was before the experience, and she said, ”Awesome.  We ate at every 3 star Michelin in Paris and most in all of France while we lived there! We also walked in every arrondissement in Paris sequentially!”

Now this was inspiring and I had to ask more.

I responded with, “Really? Wow. I didn’t even know what three-star Michelin rated was LOL.  Our dinner ended up costing a lot…. You did that in all those restaurants?  To be honest, I loved the six hours with my good friends uninterrupted by kids LOL, but I would be just as happy grabbing a salad somewhere and walking the streets, my favorite thing to do. The energy is amazing here. I can’t get enough!”

And my friend replied:

“I agree completely.  Yes, it was a lot of $$ per person each time but we had no kids or one kid when we did it and (my husband) was earning a lot so our budget was very different!  And we saw it as a once in a lifetime experience. I never really loved it either -too formal – I am informal to my inner core as you know – I am currently loving dinner by the our club pool with my bathing suit on and surrounded by our kids and their friends, who all jump back in the pool right after dinner and continue swimming – I have to literally pull them out of the pool at 8pm when it closes each night!”

And my response:

“Oh I hear ya Super-mom!  Ha ha haaaa. We just pulled our kids outta the Paris Country Club pool at 8pm!  Ha. We’ve yet to have dinner, just snacks, and are heading to grab something in the Latin quarter then gelato!  Where were you working while in Paris?”

And she said:

“The NBA in Paris, Reebok in the Netherlands.  Plus my 6th and final year in Paris, neither (my husband) or I worked so I was pregnant, living on severance pay (since they moved my job back to NYC and we didn’t want to go back) so I took a watercolor painting class in the Marais, took our 2 year old son to play groups and explored starting a couple diff business (high-end travel or importing French children’s clothes or antique furniture back into the U.S.)!  I even went to some trade shows, etc.

Then after our second son was born, a head-hunter contacted me about Reebok hiring a lawyer with exactly my experience in the Netherlands and I interviewed 3 weeks after our second son was born (I had to pull him from my breast with milk dripping to go to the interview over breakfast at a Paris hotel in the 1ieme) – out of many candidates, I got the job, my husband and I did our Paris by arrondissement walk in the final month and then moved to the Netherlands….”

And my email to her:

“I am writing a blog about this–it’s magical and an example of your zest for life.  The fact that you live your inspired life and are always open to what the Universe delivers to you.  It will be very inspiring for others to read, as it inspires me as well!  Rock on Super-mom!”

Her response:

“You are too cute. Another little detail – while I was at the interview at the Paris hotel, a baby in the hotel restaurant starting crying and I starting feeling like I might have “let down” of milk!  I was worrying about this when the 50 year old American woman interviewing me for Reebok said, “That crying sound is reminding me of and making me miss my cat.”  So I realized,  “There is no way that this lady has any children or she would not mistake a baby crying for a cat!”  So I made sure not to mention the fact that I was nursing and starting to let down from the sound of the baby – realizing she would not understand!  How funny is that?

Also, part of my reason for thinking about starting my own small business was that to better manage family and work – kind of like you and Philippe do – that I could spend time with the kids WHILE exploring cool travel destinations or WHILE shopping for children’s clothes or antique furniture to sell in the U.S.  – I imagined myself strolling around pushing a stroller and browsing markets/beautiful travel sites/working.  Not a bad idea huh?  But then the Reebok job fell on my lap and that was perfect for me so I had to jump!”

I love my friend dearly for many reasons.  One is her insatiable zest for life and her utter openness to any and all adventures.  She is by far one of the most open and able “learners” I’ve come across in my many years of teaching.  And she is a lot of fun to be around to boot.  ;)

What is your inspired life?  How can you begin today to take baby steps toward it?

I’m rootin for ya!

And so is my friend.

Have the best day ever!

Namaste!

Taylor plus 5

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Posted by: Taylor Wells, M.A., M.Ed., R.Y.T. | Posted in Super-Quote of the Day | No Comments »