Vive la France en 2012

For several years, I have felt the intense desire to visit France, specifically Paris. It has always been a "someday" idea - a faraway dream of a place in postcards that conjures images of all the fairy tales I read as a child. After all, I am just a quadriplegic living mostly on government benefits. I dream about going to that faraway place but I never really pictured myself making that dream come true. I lived in and around Paris in the late eighteenth century and I visited the country in the late nineteenth century, so I always thought it would be interesting to go back for a third time and see the places I once knew in the past. It was a nice romantic idea but I tend to dream up nice romantic ideas without any practicality to back them.

A few weeks ago, my very good friend, Maryka, came to me and asked point blank what I thought about setting the goal to spend my thirtieth birthday in France. I agreed readily, thinking that it would be the best birthday of my life in all likelihood. Suddenly more and more of our close friends jumped on the idea of making a big group pilgrimage to what I call the motherland. With the support, energy and ambition of many people toward the same goal, I have begun to think that this could be real. This could be happening. In February of 2012, I will turn thirty. I'm being dragged toward thirty kicking and screaming because I'm not looking forward to aging at all. The possibility of going to France that spring makes thirty easier to bear.

One of my best friends in the world, Sissy, is a practitioner of The Secret. While I don't literally practice The Secret, I do believe in the Law of Attraction; meaning whatever thoughts, emotions and deeds you send out into the universe will be returned to you. If you think poorly about yourself and don't believe you can accomplish anything with your life, that's exactly how other people will see you too and you truly won't accomplish anything. A big reason why we started this blog is to put our collective energy toward creating this journey to France and making it an authentic and important moment in our lives. We will post places that we want to see, things that we want to do and support each other in the effort to save for all of the travel costs.

With enough positive energy and personal effort, a person can accomplish and dream. This is our dream.