Postcard from Cherbourg

Cherbourg August 28th 2011

 

There is a comfort in the foreign land, in the solitude of traveling alone; reminds me of nothing, it has not defined me or claim expectations of me. In my journeys, I search for those rare moments when my soul reflects in another, out of the luck of just being standing at the same time and the same place in history.

This weekend has been an intense two days celebration. My dear French friend Isabelle who I have not seen in 13 years, got married. In my everlasting need to experience life, and in the prelude of my seven months before I reach my 40th birthday, I decided this was a meaningful cause to start my celebration.

I came to Cherbourg knowing one person, and left after three days, with 20 hours of French with a Martinique touch celebration, and over 380 French and Martinique cheek kisses – yes I left much richer. The language barrier got dissolved with human affection, tolerance, smiles and plenty of laughs. These kind people, beautiful children, all embraced me into their traditions, their world, and all that is meaningful to them.

My life has taken three years to settle after my divorce, and I can see now that my heart can cope with the beautiful happiness of others, without the constant grief of my own loss, which for a long time now I thought was one of the prices I had to pay for the freedom I claimed.

I know very well that the price attached to each and everyone's freedom has a different value, yet real freedom will always charge the ultimate price. In my own experience, the costly price got easier to pay when I stopped paying it with my own punishment of guilt, after leaving my project of life, that I so much believed and fought for; after that, I started paying with commitment, to embrace and adapt to my new circumstances,  always in a close manner to the ideals lived in the past, where dreams were grand and valuable to the meaning of my existence, and in consequence to those who joined our journey, like my little boy and his father whom he adores.

Early this morning I sat down on the train back to Paris, and what I could feel was just that amazing feeling of being content and grateful, nothing more - nothing else.

Yes, there is a comfort in traveling alone, with the hope that the place that hasn’t defined you, will re define you in some way.

From Cherbourg, Paris & Stavanger

Another beautiful postacard