Bon Voyage (for real this time)...

This will no doubt be the last post I make while I'm stateside. I prayed up and down for the opportunity to get to intern in France, and now that it's here, I'm goin' full force.

It's been a long time coming, no doubt. The powers that be at my new job informed me of the internship offer in May, but little did I know that there would be a small hurdle in terms of paperwork. Because of an unexpected delay in obtaining a necessary signature, I was almost convinced that I wouldn't be able to gain a student visa in time. But as they say, situations have a mysterious way of working themselves out, and here I am, less than 18 hours before my flight.

I had a good talk with a really dear friend today (you know who you are). She graduated from our university and recently started a job as a TV news producer in a relatively small market in one of the Carolinas. We were catching up when she said something that reverberated in my mind. When describing one of her colleagues, an unsavory man in his sixties, she said that he was in the winter of his life. That really struck a chord and got me thinking.

What if life really is comparable to the ebb and flow of the four seasons? In spring we are born and develop an understanding of our talents and purpose. In the summer, we push this understanding to the extreme, experiencing the best and worst that life has to offer. Autumn allows us to transform these experiences into a wealth of knowledge for others to draw from. In the chill of winter, we retreat into the earth, returning to that from which we....well, sprang.

Like anyone else about to embark on a major life experience, I've questioned myself, often to the point of frustration. But now, when I'm mere hours away from departure, I feel relaxed, more relaxed than I have in weeks. If there ever was a summer of life, this would be it for sure.

P.S. I've enabled my cell phone to dial and receive calls internationally. Earlier today, I confirmed my hotel reservation with the concierge - completely in French. Oh yeah. I'm bad. Until someone approaches me with rapid fire French and I choke, that is.