Starting this decade off on a better note than the last

On January 1, 2000, I was a new bride. I had been married five weeks. I think it's enough to say I started the decade off during my first year of marriage for you to get how difficult it must have been. I was separated permanently by the end of 2002.

Next week, I am traveling to Paris. I can't think of anything better to do in the first month of the new year and new decade than to travel to a place I've always longed to visit. This is setting a nice tone. It's my gift to me for getting through a rough decade and working very hard in 2009.

I'm starting this decade off on a better note. May 2010 be filled with much travel, writing and discovery in Chapter 32 of my life.

I'm going to Paris!!!

After months and months of trying to figure out where I want to travel I decided on Paris. This was a hard decision until I studied the facts. I began studying French at 10 years old. There are sights I've been studying for 21 years that I want to see in Paris. It's just such a rich city. Those two facts alone made it easy for me to decide.

Then when I discovered a vegan bed & breakfast in the 16th arrondissement (neighborhood in Paris) just a few blocks away from the Arc de Triomphe, I knew Paris was calling for me. I had been pricing flights and hotels on Expedia for months. None of the hotels grabbed me and said stay here! I just couldn't break out my credit card and make the commitment. Then when I did a search for vegan restaurants in Paris, that's when I discovered the Bed & Breakfast - which is recently opened in July 2009. I immediately inquired about availability and crossed my fingers that they had available any of the periods that I had planned to take off work. Sure enough, they respond and I'm booked! I didn't even hesitate. It should be that clear and that easy when something is meant to be.

I will be the only guest in the B&B seeing as they only have the one room for renting. However, at night they B&B becomes a restaurant that serves 8 and that's when other tourists and locals join for the vegan French culinary experience. For the one or two nights I plan to dine in, I hope to make some new friends. I'm not going to hold back: I hope I fall in love with Paris and never want to return home. I know I am coming home. I love America, but I do hope that I meet people and enjoy experiences enough that make me want to return again and again.

I'm very happy to go alone. I've been reading blogs and articles by women who travel abroad alone and what it does for them; how it enriches their experience and boosts their self-esteem.

I hope to get the travel bug with this visit and then feel like I can't live without traveling. Then I want to travel more, more, more domestically and internationally.

Do we ever really get over people?

I was talking to a girlfriend today who was telling me she wanted to go to Vegas because a guy she dated and thought was the one was going to be there with his company at the beginning of September. I thought she was over him and on to her new guy. When I asked her about this, she answered do we really ever get over people? Great question. So I said to her, you two live 10 miles apart, can’t you find some way to run into him locally; you have to go all the way to Vegas to run into him? She laughed.

So back to my question is: do we ever really get over people? Do we ever stop finding ways to stalk them? Does the checking their MySpace page daily ever end? Does the Googling his name ever end? Does the checking his email because we know the password ever end? Does the checking his girlfriend’s email because we know her password ever end? When do we stop it? Or is it that it never stops, but simply slows down?

I know lots of women, including myself in the past, who still want to know. Know what, you ask? If he’s seeing anyone else. If he’s writing to his friends about us. If he’s dying. If he still cares. There are myriad things we still look for when we “cyber-stalk” or invade his privacy. Why though? Especially when we’re moved on to greater guys. Guys worth a damn; guys we trust and don’t care to check-up on.

Whenever I’ve done the check-up it was never because I wanted him back. Well maybe during the early stages, but if I was still checking up months or years later, it was because I wanted to make sure he wasn’t doing better than me. Or maybe to see who he loved after me. There are lots of reasons. I was always so glad to notice when the check-ups lessened. Twenty, thirty times a day down to twice a day, to twice a week, to once a week, to once a month, to I couldn’t care less what this guy is doing. It’s a good feeling. What do you think?

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I'm blogging now.