Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Reflective

Wreath

 

Maybe it is because we have had many guests in the last few weeks,

Maybe it is because the season feels more like early spring than late summer,

Maybe it is because I lack sleep,

Maybe it is because of the owl's nightly mantra,

Maybe it is because I walked around Paris in the rain,

Maybe it is because the communion wreath was hanging on the window,

 

 

Reflection of things

 

Maybe it is because I cut the lavender,

Maybe it is because I cleaned the house,

Maybe it is due to age, though I doubt that seriously,

Maybe it is because I just finished reading Sarah's Key,

Maybe it is because I talked to Annie about why she went to Paris only once in her lifetime, and doing so found out why she went to Paris in the first place,

 

French reflections

 

Maybe it is because I watched too many old movies and collected far too many old papers that have a romantic bent…

Maybe it is because I live in France,

Maybe it is because my friends ask me what I think and I answer with what I feel,

 

Lace and pink ribbons

 

Maybe it is because of talk of pink ribbons, lace and Mimi's wedding dress,

 

 

Soft

 

 

Maybe it is because I am wired this way…. which is to say I am a marshmellow at heart with a healthy pinch of lemon tart.

 

What is your mood lately?

Comments

44 responses to “Reflective”

  1. Julie M ~ The Little Red Shop

    Bittersweet with a side of exhaustion and hopefulness…
    Julie M.

    Reply
  2. freefalling

    Dazed and confused.
    Is that a mood?

    Reply
  3. Paulita

    I’m going to have to say that my mood is restless. Picture me in a Bruce Springsteen song, ready to get in a car and drive far away, to break free from the mundane.
    Your melancholy seems much more appealing though.
    On the Colbert Report from Monday, a psychologist explained why presidents with “mental issues” are better leaders. Depressives have more empathy and are realistic. Manics are creative. I feel blah.

    Reply
  4. michelleb.

    Refreshed. Energized. Clean. Like I’m 29, not 47.

    Reply
  5. kim

    I have a summer cold! Wahhhhh. Today my mood is defeated. I’m trying to create something and it’s not coming together.

    Reply
  6. Irina

    happy, I just finished cooking dinner, everyone liked it. it’s enough to make me feel good, and it’s not me who is doing the dishes 😉
    Corey, loving your current busy-ness and cannot wait for the wedding photos, it’s going to be GORGEOUS!
    and … I’m so grateful for knowing you and Yann, you’re the best!!!!!!!

    Reply
  7. jackie

    Sometimes I forget to stop and think of my own mood-my life seems a series of fast-forward events-I may concentrate on my own mood today…novel concept.

    Reply
  8. Merisi

    Marshmallow and lemon tart? I would eat you in a minute or less! 😉
    I feel like a soufflé taken out of the oven before it was ready. Phhhhh ….

    Reply
  9. Florence Crowder

    Crowder Antiques – Today I am very pressed for time so I have a feeling of rush, rush, rush. I’m working on a Smithsonian exhibit that’s coming to our town and feel the pressure, but it’s a good feeling.

    Reply
  10. Brenda, Walker, LA, USA

    Today, I am tired but exhilarated because we have worked on redoing a room at the shop, in which I would have no problem living in! Can’t wait to present it to our customers!

    Reply
  11. Sam

    Perhaps you are reflective because you are a good person, and good people reflect. Are you Mimi’s wedding planner? I cannot wait to see the photos either.
    I’m with Irina, I am happy. Happy to be alive, happy to be me, happy to know a person like you, etc. I am probably just wired this way as well, lol, my family can deal.

    Reply
  12. Lauren

    i feel content and like im lovin life! its my last summer before I start my full time dream jobs. I just graduated from university and will work for a campus ministry and part time at a horse farm. i feel like the world is my oyster!!

    Reply
  13. Sam

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR5JVo21wQ

    Reply
  14. Jeanette

    Wishing all would settle and get back to normal life. Wishing all was right in this big beautiful world created for us. Wishing people would leave your choices alone and be happy with it. Wishing people would not bring politics into every problem sometimes it is just because that is what I want deal people! Again my choice my life! Is this a way to feel or just complaining???????

    Reply
  15. Denise

    A little aimless with a side of nostalgia as I envisage my last days of summer holidays.
    You are tired I think and have not had much down time in the last few months, do you think?
    Gotta love that lemon tart…

    Reply
  16. RebeccaNYC

    Bittersweet. watching time go by too fast. honoring a friends birthday…someone who seemed perfectly healthy then got a very bad diagnosis and died in 3 months. he would have been (SHOULD have been) 56 today. Bittersweet.

    Reply
  17. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Sarah’s Key may have something to do with your mood. It is a riveting book that reminds one of the horror of anti-semitism.

    Reply
  18. Marilyn

    Maybe I am not awake yet and wanting to tuck back under the covers on this cool morning. Maybe I wish I were more of a marshmellow and lemon tart like you. Maybe I want to sing and dance out under the stars and say that the world will be OK.

    Reply
  19. georgie

    Worried about the economy, then I look at the sunshine and garden;see the happy dogs looking at me with love and the day seems better.

    Reply
  20. Rhonda P.

    My mood is ever changing but not in any way to affect anyone else. I’m always creating in my head, I worry about this country, I worry about the world. I bounce from reality to dreaming but in safe mode. I feel safe.

    Reply
  21. Kathie B

    Overworking.

    Reply
  22. everton terrace

    I am tired and feeling behind lately but mostly I feel grateful. Each day I see the little (and big) blessings I am surrounded with. I’m also sad for what is going on in England, the craziness in my mother’s homeland is sad.
    Oh, and hot, it’s so blasted hot here in Phoenix right now. I guess I feel hot more than anything else – and not in a good way 🙂

    Reply
  23. Theresa

    I feel that time is racing by and I have not found my nitch in life after being retired for over 5 years. My son started 10th grade today and I feel a bit sad he is growing up way too quick. I love your blog – thank you for writing.

    Reply
  24. Franca Bollo

    Apparently, I missed my calling.

    Reply
  25. Amy Kortuem

    Reflective is so good. Especially after a long period of gathering impressions, experiences, information. Stopping and mentally sorting is necessary.
    I’m disappointed. I was running so well and then I took a really bad fall last night and landed high on my right butt cheek. I’m limping and frustrated and in pain and in danger of this turning into one of those “EVERYTHING, everything, everything is just wrong and bad and bad and BAAAAAAD. Waaaaaaaa!” moods.
    Ice pack to the rump…maybe that’ll cool my head, too.

    Reply
  26. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    My mood: impatient, to (a) hear why Annie went to Paris that once and (b) see/hear more about the wedding. When is it?
    My mood is also joyous, as my friend who just had major surgery for pancreatic cancer turns out to not have pancreatic cancer after all, and that the cancer he did have was completely removed during that surgery. No chemo for him. I keep pinching myself, and trying to keep from clinging to his wife and laughing wildly. They need rest. I need to drink wine on their porch with them.
    °___________________________
    Hi R,
    Wonderful!!! Wonderful!!
    Bravo Miracles Do Happen!!
    XX C

    Reply
  27. Joanne Tuchman

    Just reading your blog has made me feel nostalgic and happy to have the bitter with the sweet in my life. Missing my mom more than usual as her birthday would have been Sunday and smiling because of all the joy she brought to my life….(pretend I just posted her foto), Thankful for a happy marriage…(pretend I just posted a wedding foto with husband on crutches because he broke his leg the day before our wedding when we were skiing in Tahoe, Smiling because a friend just called to say her husband’.s cancer surgery was a success and he is feeling GREAT…(pretend I just posted a foto of us in Munich in the 70’s celebrating Fausching in fabulous costumes. Thanks for sending me on this memory lane.

    Reply
  28. momof5

    Missing my daughter who has not left yet but will, in a week be leaving for a year of study in Asia.

    Reply
  29. Darlene

    I’m 38 and as I near 40 I’ve been going through that “am I where I thought I’d be at this age” phase. I can’t says as I’m enjoying this phase of my life, because I am not “where I thought I’d be.” I’m single, no kids, never traveled out of the states and over weight. Nope- definitely not where I thought I’d be.

    Reply
  30. Jody

    Melancholy and grateful at the same time…thanks for this lovely post, Corey.

    Reply
  31. jend’isèrer

    I am listening to my daughter’s beloved Celtic music as I type, positive thoughts fill me. Being reflective is a luxery humans should be thankful for in our animal kingdom. Not to be wasted on regrets and darkness, though aren”t we all “only human”?

    Reply
  32. Weaverbec

    Anxious, eager, and looking forward to Labor Day Weekend. I go to a big flea market in Hillsville,Va every year. With the bad economy, there are less and less people each year. But it is still the highlight of my year!

    Reply
  33. g

    my mood as it is evening here on the east coast is thankful always thankful…for all the good and the bad…prayerful…expectations…. romantic regretful and wishful…even though the migraines have been almost daily this past week i am happy truly happy!!

    Reply
  34. Michelle M in KY

    Dear Corey…
    I love the way that you show up & say just what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Your explanation of your mood is exactly how I have been feeling as of late. A big fat marshmallow is my nature, so it shouldn’t be so surprising. But, I have been weepy and incredibly blessed with happiness all at the same time. I know, I know…it’s a contradiction, but I, too think that’s my middle name. So much to be grateful for and happy about. But, sad and melancholic @ the same time. My baby, who is 6 will be going to first grade next week and for an entire week now, almost every time I look @ her I get teary eyed. When she was born, I didn’t look ahead to school or want to rush her out of the house. I relished in each day, frustrating or hair pulling or not, soaking her up each moment. I still do that and yet time is marching on, whether I like it or not. I can’t quite grasp the fact that things are moving at a pace much faster than I am comfortable with. Today, I turned 40! I am grateful to reach this birthday…to have these sweet children…yet I am crying on the keyboard as I type. A contradiction is my mood, with a side of pure joy. Thanks for asking!
    ___________________________
    Hi Michelle,
    Thinking of you on your birthday.
    xx
    C

    Reply
  35. Bridget

    For some reason I’m really happy. I’m not sure if it’s because my Dad has only 13 radiation treatments left out of 45. Or maybe it’s because I’m going to a bridal shower this weekend for a little girl I use to babysit and will see the other little ones there along with their Mothers. Or if it’s because a some what moody employer that has had seven work days in a row without being cranky? Or million other little things. But you what.. I’m not question it. I’m just going to enjoy it while it last as it feels like it’s been SO long since I’ve felt this way.

    Reply
  36. Mary Anne Komar

    Dear Amy, hope you are feeling better, please try an arnica cream for the bruising

    Reply
  37. Kathy

    Hi Corey
    It is good to be reflective from time to time…. I think it makes us appreciate what we have. I have also just finshed Sarah’s Key… I had wanted to read it for some time.
    Kathy

    Reply
  38. Gina

    I’m feeling a sense of motivation to clean and organise, to garden and set in place meal planning charts. No I’m not heavily pregnant and nesting. My in-laws have booked to come visit for a month and I’m running around trying to get my house ship shape before they arrive!

    Reply
  39. Diane

    I read you each day, Corey, and this may be my favorite post ever. Beautiful.
    Warmly,
    Diane
    who travels up Hwy 5 from Sacramento to Oregon every summer and waves at Willows and thinks of you (-:

    Reply
  40. jend’isère

    Incredible news Pacific NW Rebecca! Saved from the devastion of pacereatc cancer!

    Reply
  41. wedding catering los angeles

    I like to read this blog,i like see all photos after all
    i feel happy.

    Reply
  42. Nancy

    just beautiful..thank you for sharing your thoughts…

    Reply
  43. elizabeth kirkpatrick

    A bit down………….for no apparant reason!Always in awe as you have the BEST posts anywhere!

    Reply
  44. Lorna

    Brautiful post – thank you. My mood is conficted. I thought life was suppose to get easier instead of harder. I am hopefully that everything happens for a reason and all things have a purpose and in the end everything works out just as it should.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions