It has been an apparently uneventful weekend…

However, as I am sitting here in my pretty Alsacian apartment, with a glass of Riesling, listening to TVE in the background, I feel that something finally clicked and this time for good.

Yes, deciding to pack my bags again and move on from a place that I loved dearly but no longer brings me what I need, I feel free again…

The same feeling I had when I decided to leave behind other places that were not taking me where I wanted… even when it was not always clear where I wanted to go.

I know that I will miss people that are dear to me, I know I will miss places, food, and everything else that I have ‘absorbed’ from France and made mine.

I know I will always miss something wherever I am, however I know I can make any place my own. I carry within me 3 continents, an unimaginable number of memories, faces, sights, smells, colours…

I used to believe I am the result of everything that has happened to me, but having finished reading A Parcel for Anna Browne by Miranda Dickinson yesterday, I realise I am what I have made with all the experiences I’ve had and what I have allowed to happen to me and how I have interpreted it all.

In many ways I am proud, I am proud of having been able to adapt quite easily as a child to the new countries, new schools (and not the international ones), standing out as the new European kid… but more then that, I am proud I made those places home and I have loved and managed to carry them in my heart all these years. I had somewhat forgotten that, beaten down by disappointment, heartbreak and fear…

As I prepare to embark on a new adventure, I set sail with the most simple idea in mind and maybe one of the hardest things to attain: finding happiness.

Some wound say, happiness it is not a destination but a direction in which we choose to travel… what follows will confirm or not this theory.

Spoiler alert! – A Parcel for Anna Browne by Miranda Dickinson

“Dear …

From today you can be whatever you want to be.

It’s your choice, your decision, and won’t be swayed one bit by this parcel. But I’ve sent this to you to help you decide.

Who do you want to be today?

And where do you want to go?

Thank you for showing me that life is a choice and a journey. Whatever you choose to do and wherever you decide to go, it will be the right decision.

Because life is too exciting to sit still for long.

Brightest wishes, xx”