Circles of Life

Sometimes life amazes me.

I'll explain.

My husband, Mark, was 6 years old when he moved to Iran with his parents. His Dad did a 6 month internship at a clinic there as part of his education to become an eye doctor, and Mark was along for the ride. On the way to Iran, and on the way back to American from being in Iran, Mark and his Dad & Mom traveled the world.

I've known this about Mark for about as long as I have known Mark. Yet, Mark is not a very chatty sort of character. From time to time, a story will slip out. But, he's not one to brag or freely 'tell all.'

This became clear the first time that we visited the Louvre after moving to Paris nearly 2 years ago.

After visiting the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and some of the other very famous attractions at the Louvre, Mark said, "I'd like to go to the Ancient Middle East section, Jill."

I have to confess, I thought, "Oh, how boring!" But, I kept my opinions to myself and just went along.

We got to this room...


..and Mark stopped, stood very still, and he had this interesting look in his eye. I waited for him to speak. He quietly said, "I was 6 years old the last time I saw these. We went for picnics in the ruins of Persepolis as a family. They looked exactly like this."

WOW!!!!!

What a moment for Mark! The circles of life so clearly visible in one moment.


Well, just this past first Sunday of June (when the entrance fee is waived), Lena and I went to the Louvre together. This is nothing short of amazing, because just 6 months ago Lena was saying, "I'm allergic to museums!!!"

But, somehow, during the months and months of studying history in school, she has become interested in going back to the Louvre to see some things again. So, we went back, but this time she was in total control of where we went and what we saw.

She requested going to the same "huge statues that Daddy had seen when he was living in Iran" during our visit. And, so we did.


I took this photo and thought, "What will this mean to Lena someday?" Here is this 11 year old girl, living in Paris, going to the Louvre Museum with her Mom and standing next to ruins her Dad saw as a boy in Iran. Yet, I have no idea what this will mean to Lena in 20, 30, 40 or more years. It's just fun to think about.

But, we didn't do too much heavy thinking. We enjoyed our visit and then an ice cream in the gardens in front of the Louvre.


And, then we laughed about this funny statue we were sitting by. We were wondering how this particular statue was chosen to be right in front of the Louvre museum?


Then we found a fun new playground...


Lena climbed and explored each thing at the park while I took photos of cool flowers.


And then we made a run for the underground metro because this is what the sky was like that day.


We just missed the rain. What a great day!