Open to the Unexpected

34 Rue du Pont Vieux   My apartment does not have exterior shutters.

  
I woke this morning feeling as though something had happened in the world and I had missed it.  Some of that sensation was due to waking late, which is to be expected when I didn't get to sleep until nearly 3 in the morning.  After that first feeling of panic, I realized that if indeed, the world had passed me by, I am perfectly fine with where I am.  If I could somehow freeze time, order up my personal Groundhog Day, I would do it gladly.  I am so happy with where I am on the planet.  

Nonetheless, I had work to do.  How I can wreck a perfectly neat living space in under 30 minutes completely baffles me.  But I can, and do and therefore set about, at the beginning of each day, to give my apartment a good tidying, full of the misguided belief that I won't have to do it all over again tomorrow morning. The sunny day energized me and I was able to get those mundane chores done that propel our lives forward--taking out the recycling, buying the newspaper, getting letters to the post office.

Place Carnot ice rink at night

If there's any day to be a little off-kilter here in Carcassonne, it's a Monday.  So many shops are closed that I might as well wait until Tuesday to do any real shopping or run errands. I finally finished one of my library books and would have liked to return the book, but the library is closed on Mondays.  I wanted a card to send to a friend, but the papieterie is closed today.  I did get a mini compagnette (a small "traditional" baguette) and I stopped at the butcher shop, visited with Michel and got two pork chops. When was the last time the butcher actually cut your pork chops to your specification? 

I have been thinking about the unexpected turns this Carcassonne adventure has taken. I never expected to learn an Occitan Christmas carol.  I never expected to end up playing the hymns for a Sunday worship service.  I never expected to eat wild boar.  One thing that I did "right" in coming here was to come with an open heart.  That philosophy has served me well, and it has made me wonder what would happen if I lived my "real" life with this attitude. 

Out on the street there is a sense of getting on with things now that this holiday business is winding down.  The city workers are collecting the Christmas trees that lined the streets of the Bastide.  The holly and mistletoe have disappeared from the flower stalls, which are beginning to fill with masses of glorious tulips.  I am sorry to see the Christmas season fade away; I enjoyed it tremendously this year.  But my heart is open to what is to come.