Pittsburgh to Paris
The abridged story of the journey of a girl from a small mill town to the big city. A journey from Pittsburgh to Paris.
I am originally from North Braddock, Pennsylvania. An old mill town that has seen much better days. We lived with my grandmother, 2 uncles and an aunt in a 4 bedroom house on the hill. There were 7 of us there. My childhood was happy. Our family was a good family and there was always a lot of love and laughter. Still, it was a middle class life in Pittsburgh. We ate the basic meat and potatoes at dinner time. No one in our family drank alcohol except maybe a little around the holidays. The little bit of travel that we did do was by automobile and therefore quite limited. I always had my nose in some book, so of course I dreamed about all the exotic places that I would go, the different foods to try, and new people to meet that I was often reading about. I was sometimes accused of daydreaming. In hindsight I was a thinker. A planner. I am still both of those things. Children should not be shamed for being in their own world. It’s a blessing not a curse.
I left the United States around 9 and a half years ago in May of 2012 to live in Paris, France. What inspired me to leave was the loss of my mom. She passed away the December before I left. She called me to come over to her apartment in October 2011 to give me instructions about her final wishes. She had inflammatory breast cancer and had been in battle with it for 4+years. She was weary and ready to “go home to see mama, daddy and her brothers and sisters” whom had taken the rainbow bridge before her. She told me that she was going to leave each of us a little bit of money and made us all promise to not spend it on any bills or anything responsible. Then she told me to go be happy. She said "you’ve been taking care of other people all of your life, now it’s time for you to go be happy"! Six months later, I moved to Paris. I didn’t tell anyone except my then twenty-five year old daughter. She had graduated from medical school the year before with a MD/MBA so I knew that she was on an upward curve for a life of her own. I was single and had no real ties to Pittsburgh anymore. I could keep my same career so it was what I knew I needed to do. I just needed to take the leap of faith and to go. Paris had been calling me from the first time I had visited 20 years before. I was slightly terrified but more so excited than afraid.
My first day in Paris as a resident came after moving in with my 13 boxes and 2 big suitcases surrounding me. I had a little bit of a panic attack. I kept thinking what have I done??? I’ll give it a year I told myself. Just 1 year… I can do a year… right?
That night I had a dream. I was in my loft sleeping when I was awakened by the sound of laughter. I pushed aside the sliding screen panel that blocked the light from the 2 over sized apartment windows. There in the living area was my mom and 2 "girlfriends" laughing and drinking wine. In my dream I yelled down to them "you ladies make sure to clean up when you’re done" and then went back to sleep. When I actually woke up the next morning I knew that mom was with me and that I had done the right thing. Of course mom being mom, she had made a couple of new girlfriends on the other side and brought them along to visit me in Paris.
I have now been living in Paris for 9+ years. I’m working on my citizenship since I have taken an early retirement in 2020. I married a French natural 5 years ago. We’ve bought and renovated a very cute apartment and we’re living our best lives together. We pop open a champagne bottle from his family’s vineyard at least once a week or so to celebrate living and living life well. We travel often and create gourmet meals in our surprisingly modern kitchen for Paris.
So how in the world did a girl from North Braddock, Pennsylvania get to be living in Paris, France you may ask? Jet setting around the world, married to this wonderful guy? Honestly I ask that same question of myself everyday. My advice is not be afraid to take that leap of faith. Take the adventurous path when it’s presented. There truly is no way to fail
Santé ~ here’s to living life well.
