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In summer 2013 I took my kids to Paris. My son Alec was a Junior at Mira Costa High School and my daughter Devon a Sophomore.  Sounds glam, right? We had a great time, but anyone who tells you or shows you in pictures an Instagram perfect vacation is leaving out the “fun” parts! So this trip was not without its moments which in hindsight are all pretty funny.

The first was my son’s moment of FOMO…it clouded his judgement and I was a nonplussed and thought, okay, we’re off to a great start before we even get to the airport. I recalled when I was about his age on one summer family vacation with my 2 sisters and parents, things suddenly started to breakdown because, in a word – teenagers. Then (I’ve discovered) the family vacations stop working until the “kids” are young adults and the dynamic changes and then they can work again. Was it my turn now with my kids? Have you had this experience? Equanimity won out and we headed to the airport!

The second “incident” was one night after dinner returning to our Airbnb in the Marais district (up 85 steps no elevator) my son asked if he could go back out to the cafe/bar just down the street in our neighborhood that we passed every day…he would take his guitar have a drink and then be back in an hour. I thought why not…at 2am no Alec. May I remind the reader he was 17…! We had lost contact after he promised just another 1/2 hour…then it appears his phone died. What was I going to do, walk the streets of Paris looking for him? No. Searching for serenity I recalled Diane Keaton saying in the film “Something’s Gotta Give” with Jack Nicolson, that Paris is the best city to stay up all night in. Indeed. And it was my teenage son that was doing the honors!! With a prayer for his safety I got a few hours of sleep. At 6am the next morning I heard footsteps coming up those 85 stairs. Devon shrugged her shoulders (already back at 2am) when she briefly woke up to me stressing. Alec apologized, said he had the best time, he met a British couple and 2 French girls that practiced their English with him, he played guitar for them (he’s a musician), they bought him drinks and then they went to another bar…he admitted he got lost coming home…then finally figured it out. Oh jeez…good time for Mom to start learning to trust and let go. To my credit I did, and he hung out with us most nights for the rest of the trip.

And the 3rd was that I only had enough rewards points for 2 business class seats and 1 economy. For some reason I thought it was a good plan to have my kids experience business class so they could see the wisdom of going to college and getting good jobs so they could collect rewards points or even pay outright for business class in their futures…at any rate, guess who sat in economy? Go ahead and laugh, I deserve it! And yes, they do know they’re blessed!

In between these events we fetched baguette & cheese and croissants from the bakery down the street each morning which we enjoyed at the little table in our sweet Airbnb, visited many of the major attractions in town and the gorgeous Monet gardens at Giverny. We sat in Les Deux Magots, the famous café in Saint-German-des-Prés and people watched, and had that amazing thick “L’Africain” hot chocolate at Angelina in the Rue de Rivoli with its 120 year history. And I fell in love with and had a minor obsession with taking pictures of Paris doors and to this day when I travel, I am looking for beautiful doors and doorways, the gateways to lovely interiors, the beautiful homes that I feel privileged to assist my clients in buying or selling!