Sir and I decided that this was the year we were going to live dangerously.
We were given an unexpected date night on Christmas because my mother-in-law wanted to take the two older kids hiking, along with her other grandchildren (all of my parents are way more fit than I am – my mom does Zumba, my dad hikes in the mountains of North Carolina and my MIL does “randonnés” – brisk walking with her club, sometimes for up to a week).
Anyway, we asked her if she wouldn’t mind keeping Petit Prince, who would have been sooo disappointed to return home without his siblings.
She said “Aw what the heck? What’s one more?” (or something like that in French).
So we went to the movies.
In a neighborhood we weren’t too sure about (it was fine)
We saw Twilight. We don’t want to be behind the times. (what – it’s not still playing by you?)
Except it was in French. I didn’t miss anything, but I prefer English movies to be in English.
So you see? See how we’re already living dangerously?
Another way I’ve decided to start living dangerously is to publish my memoire right here. On my blog.
I’m going to publish a chapter a week, starting next Monday. There are currently 26 chapters, which should take me through to the beginning of July. Just in time for summer vacation!
The one lead I had for a publisher fell through and I just . . . really don’t have it in me to court rejection upon rejection. So I’m publishing it within my comfort zone. I know. I’m a chicken.
So here’s the deal. The book is broken up into three parts. The only part of it I consider to be the least bit polished is the first part. The second and third parts are currently more along the lines of “I did this. And then I did that.” which totally reads more like a documentary (yawn). So you see how dangerously I’m living? I only have 8 more weeks until I have to start posting the second part, which means I need to get crackin’.
You know that the fact that I’m a Christian kind of oozes out here and there on the blog, although in blogging as in life, I prefer to have friends all along the spectrum and not just narrow it down to one group.
Well, in my memoire, it’s kind of unavoidable and I hope it won’t deter you. If you’re not a Christian, maybe you can look at it like an anthropological study (grin).
No seriously – it’s an indelible part of my story and I’ve even chosen a Scripture to head each chapter, and very occasionally, another one within the chapter. But it’s really me just telling my story in the end. No proselytizing.
The first part tells about how I pursued God, or rather, how he pursued me – and how I pretty much went from total indifference to . . . faith.
It’s called “a lady unformed.”
The second part is about all the difficult challenges and character work in my early years as a Christian and it’s called “a lady hard-pressed.”
And the third part is life since we’ve moved to France – how we ended up here and what’s happened along the way. And this part is called “a lady rooted and established.”
Obviously it’s also about everything else – love, despair, birth, loss, adventure, laughter, grief and hope.
It’s called A Lady in France: Life in the Trenches, and I really, really hope you will like it.
Image credit: here
I absolutely look forward to reading it!