From left to right: Kristi, Carole, Nancy, Bernd, Jill, Agnès, Charles, and Jean-Marc. And behind the camera, Charles's wife, Martha. We are in the Crêperie du Hameau, which overlooks the sweet fishing port of Madrague, just east of Cassis. Don't miss Jill's wonderful write up–and you'll love her "vintage buying in France" blog–click here.
apprendre à se connaître
: to get to know one another, oneself
Audio File: Listen to Jean-Marc read: Download MP3 or Wav
Apprendre à se connaître, à comprendre sa personnalité, ses réactions, ses ressentis, ses blocages, c'est une autre façon de grandir et de profiter pleinement de sa vie. To get to know oneself, to understand one's personality, one's reactions, one's feelings, one's mental blocks, is another way to grow and fully enjoy one's life. —psychologies.com
A Day in a FRENCH Life… by Kristin Espinasse
Do you know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and, still dumbed by sleep, you are eerily at peace?
And then, petit à petit, reality creeps in. You remember the lab test that came back positive or the dogs that went fugitive or the person beside you–the one you are no longer speaking to.
Seized, you wither like a stolen rose–circumstances are out of your control. A familiar voice whispers to you: "The doctors will screw up, traffic's run over your pup, and your husband's had enough!"
The trick, Fellow Traveler, is to run faster than the rose-petalled robbers! Hope is your engine. Get out of bed and keep moving through your day UNTIL YOU HEAR BARKING ON THE HORIZON.
Everything will come back to you if it's meant to: health and loved ones–including your damn husband.
(Chou-chou, if you're reading–this song's for you: Like To Get To Know You Again by Edie Brickell)
***
Comments welcome here. If you are new to this journal, catch up on our cross-cultural story in the books Blossoming in Provence and First French Essais.
French Vocabulary:
petit à petit = little by little
chouchou = sweetie
Damn handsome, and I can't argue there 🙂 I made a video of him on his vintage tractor. Don't miss it here.
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Love this post, Kristin, and I suspect that most- if not all- of us women have at some point, awakened and asked ourselves who that stranger was lying next to us!
Also, so impressed that you’re keeping up-to-date on NY gossip and by extension, the music world. Edie’s song is spot-on in its brutal honesty and simplicity.
Thank you and hope your temporary “estrangement” from Jean-Marc is already a thing of the past. Happy Weekend!
Love this post, Kristin, and I suspect that most- if not all- of us women have at some point, awakened and asked ourselves who that stranger was lying next to us!
Also, so impressed that you’re keeping up-to-date on NY gossip and by extension, the music world. Edie’s song is spot-on in its brutal honesty and simplicity.
Thank you and hope your temporary “estrangement” from Jean-Marc is already a thing of the past. Happy Weekend!
Trouble in Paradise! The love you have for each other comes through in your stories/pictures so I believe that this is a time, as your song says, to get to know each other again. After all is said and done, change is the only thing that is certain – as some wise person said years ago. As life changes you can rediscover yourselves and fall in love even more. Hope you both are well on your way to some great make up fun.
Trouble in Paradise! The love you have for each other comes through in your stories/pictures so I believe that this is a time, as your song says, to get to know each other again. After all is said and done, change is the only thing that is certain – as some wise person said years ago. As life changes you can rediscover yourselves and fall in love even more. Hope you both are well on your way to some great make up fun.
Kristen, It was so great to see you featured in the April 20th edition of France Today’s online newsletter! Loved the excerpt from your book that they chose, too.
I have been enjoying your “dernier mot” from the magazine itself, and this was so much fun to see you written about online!
Kristen, It was so great to see you featured in the April 20th edition of France Today’s online newsletter! Loved the excerpt from your book that they chose, too.
I have been enjoying your “dernier mot” from the magazine itself, and this was so much fun to see you written about online!
Chere Kristi,
I went to sleep the other night after reading letters from my departed husband that he had written me in 1957 when he was a traveling medical detail man and we were first dating. When he died in 2011, we had been married over 53 years, which covered a lot of problems with health, money, communication, etc., as do all marriages. But far and away the good outweighed the bad and I feel incredibly blessed to have been through all of my adult life with a loving husband. Never forget, “this too shall pass” and know that God is watching over you. Remember when Christ asked Peter 3 times, “do you love me?:. That was so Peter could repent from the 3 denials he had committed prior to the first Easter. We are always given the chance to reconcile. It is up to us to do it and move forward. Bonne chance, chere amie.
Chere Kristi,
I went to sleep the other night after reading letters from my departed husband that he had written me in 1957 when he was a traveling medical detail man and we were first dating. When he died in 2011, we had been married over 53 years, which covered a lot of problems with health, money, communication, etc., as do all marriages. But far and away the good outweighed the bad and I feel incredibly blessed to have been through all of my adult life with a loving husband. Never forget, “this too shall pass” and know that God is watching over you. Remember when Christ asked Peter 3 times, “do you love me?:. That was so Peter could repent from the 3 denials he had committed prior to the first Easter. We are always given the chance to reconcile. It is up to us to do it and move forward. Bonne chance, chere amie.
Susan, thank you for sharing about the France Today article, and for your enthusiasm!
Diane, your story of reading your husbands letters, and remembering the good times and the scriptures, is both touching and encouraging. Thanks and hugs.
Susan, thank you for sharing about the France Today article, and for your enthusiasm!
Diane, your story of reading your husbands letters, and remembering the good times and the scriptures, is both touching and encouraging. Thanks and hugs.
Thinking if you, on a lovely cloudy morning in Roanoke, VA.
Thinking if you, on a lovely cloudy morning in Roanoke, VA.
Thank you, Pat–and to all who have responded to this post.
Thank you, Pat–and to all who have responded to this post.
Dearest Kristin – I hope you are ok. It sounds like a lot is going on right now. Hang in there and just know that we are all here for you and love you dearly. Our hearts hurt when yours is hurting. Sending a big hug and a rain check for a fabulous girl’s day out someday if the chance ever presents itself!
Dearest Kristin – I hope you are ok. It sounds like a lot is going on right now. Hang in there and just know that we are all here for you and love you dearly. Our hearts hurt when yours is hurting. Sending a big hug and a rain check for a fabulous girl’s day out someday if the chance ever presents itself!
wow, this is so well put, and kind of what I needed to hear now. Thanks so much for this and good luck on your journey too.
wow, this is so well put, and kind of what I needed to hear now. Thanks so much for this and good luck on your journey too.