Return to France

It's 4:45 in the morning. My jet-lag woke me up a little bit ago feeling almost bright-eyed. It's at moments like these - in the dark of the night when I can't sleep - that I have my best (and only, really) writing inspiration. I certainly can't explain this phenomenon. Well, it would be appropriate to call it a phenomenon if I actually acted on my feelings, reached over and picked up a pen to write. Sadly, my laziness and profound desire to sleep overcomes my artistic whims. Just last night I woke up with the idea for song lyrics - I kid you not! I've never written a song in my life, yet the refrain for a love song came to me. Needless to say, the song doesn't exist and never will because I didn't have the will to move.

This morning at 4 am when I awoke, I was inspired to write a blog entry after more than a year of blank blog page. It took me a full 45 minutes of prodding to get myself up, but here I am!

So there is something a little special about this day. It's my third day back in France after a three month absence. First, in May there was a big Tulsa wedding. It was a lovely, emotional, nostalgic weekend in the Oklahoma countryside. Congratulations Micah and Liba.

Second, I left Tulsa after two weeks and flew to the southern hemisphere - Buenos Aires, Argentina - to visit my brother Trevor who has been living there with his girlfriend Tami for almost a year. It was a six week trip during which I was to learn Spanish and finish my 50 page thesis. Uhem. The trip was great anyway, with or without my conquering the Spanish language.

Thirdly, I returned to Tulsa where I was joined by my very sweet and very French copin Nico. We spent two weeks hanging out with my mom, my dad, and ALL five of my little brothers. That may have been a first. Trev came in from Argentina with Tami, Camden and Ben spent the summer in T-Town working their tails off to earn enough money to spend this year woofing (sp?) in South America, and Miles and Max are living at home with parents as they should be. It was over 100 degrees almost every day (over 40 Celsius). There was one extremely moist picnic in Woodward Park, a hilariously long and HOT game of miniature golf, and some wonderful bbq's that we managed despite the heat. And lots of Bud lite. We went sailing too on my dad's catamaran, and Nico commented that he had never been in a lake that was as hot as a bath.

Fourthly, we flew off to California to visit friends and family. It was a whirlwind trip so I'll give a whirlwind description: Hiking around Mount San Jacinto with Brooks, Long Beach, In and Out Burger, Trev and Tami come in from Tulsa, in Bub's hybrid we go to LA, hiked up to Hollywood Sign, the Chinese Theater, the stars, the stars' hand and foot prints, surfing near Seal Beach with the Udwins and the Greers, bike ride along the beach with Tami, two nights in Studio City with Roger and Lizzie, Hollywood Forever, Vietnamese food, shots at the corner dive, bowling, Good-bye Trevor Hello Highway 1, amazing Highway 1 California coast, Santa Cruz, redwood grove with Wes and Judy, off to the Bay Area, Berkeley, Telegraph Ave, UC Berkeley, souvenir shop, Chinese food with Donald and Dava, the Cheeseboard and the best pizza on earth with pistachios and cauliflower, San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, cable car ride, Chinatown, North Beach, Union Square, Oakland A's game (versus the Tampa Bay Rays), hot dogs, beer, Dim Sum in downtown SF BEST MEAL EVER, Ferry Building Farmer's Market, cheese tasting, Peet's coffee, gelato as a late morning snack, jogging in Tilden with Allie, Art and Soul Festival in Oakland to hear Cake!!!!! with Sam and Sarah, wine and hors d'oeuvres at Sarah and Greg's, Sarah has a big belly, drinking coffees with friends, Nordstrom with Dava, Indian on Solano Ave. with the Freeds and David and Ruth, early morning departure to drive back down to Long Beach, stop at Monterrey Bay Aquarium, glass of wine with Bub, and then lunch, and then airport, 36 hours in Tulsa, then airport, then France.

Whew. I don't blame anyone who didn't manage to finish that last paragraph. I guess I've been needing to spill that out.

And now I'm back in Pertuis to get a job and finish my Master's degree. Oh, and finish that damn thesis in the next two weeks. I'll try and stay with the blogging. I think I quit writing because eventually, life in France actually became almost normal. But the job of any decent writer is to make what is normal interesting and readable to others. I'll do my best.