Notre maison dans le 19 (Our home in the 19th)

I finally took a few pics of our lovely apartment in the 19th.  It's been a rainy overcast morning, plus we are facing West, so the best light into the apartment happens in the afternoon.  That has been a bit rough, since we have to get up at 6 am and it's still soooo dark.  Jonathan's had a rough time getting himself together for school. He's used to light streaming into his bedroom, which would kick him awake and then, subsequently, kick me and my mom awake, cause he would make his way to our rooms to give us his personal wake up call around 6:30 am every morning.  My mother has been sleeping till 8 am and lying in bed till 9 am since we've left. In fact, she's been having the life of Riley since we left. Hanging out with girlfriends, going to the movies, just having a grand ole time. So, I praise God that my prayers for her to experience one of the best years of her life is coming to pass!

My dad is doing well, too.  He was experiencing some pain in his back due to the removal of the catheter and subsequent bladder infection.  They've addressed it and recommended that, because he's been having to urinate so much at night (a consequence of his bladder having gotten used to the catheter), he should use diapers at night.  He hates the idea of that, but...  I hate it for him, but....  In any case, overall he is well and my leaving has opened the door for other family members to step in to help out, such as his sister (who is a nurse) and two of her daughters.  So, I am grateful for that.

I've struggled with guilt about leaving (as alluded to in previous comments in other posts), but that's been dissipating.  Not altogether gone, but diminishing with each day we are here. I doubt it will ever completely leave.  I'm blessed with both parents being alive in their advanced years and both having significant impacts on Jonathan's first 3 years.  He talks about Nana and Pop Pop a lot and that part of it - him missing a chunk of time with them at this stage of their lives troubles me.  My being blessed with them here and missing time with them - and time serving them as their daughter - troubles me.  I can try to clean it up with a lot of rationalizations, but it's probably something I'll always wonder about:  What could I have done with my parents and for them during those 10 months away?  My only prayer is that the Lord, in His grace and mercy, manages to somehow give Jonathan and I back this time when we return to the states.

Anyway, enough ruminating (I always have to stick a bit of morose in my posts - LOL!) and back to apartment pics.  I need to get outside and take pics of the neighborhood, as well.  It's urban - as is Paris in general - but the 19th has a mix of old and new buildings, in fact, our neighborhood has quite a bit of new construction going on and we are surrounded by newer, high rise apartment buildings, with big balconies.  They're very appealing.  While Jonathan and I were walking one day, we came upon a business center that has the canal running through it.  So nice.  I'll have to go back there next week to take pics and post.  That area and the adjacent Parc de la Villete are part of what is considered the Pont-de-Flandre district, an area of the 19th where the slaughterhouses used to be.  A lot of the buildings in this business area are rehab'd factories, so it has a sorta downtown, NYC feel to it - actually, reminds me a lot of the Dumbo area in Brooklyn, which is one of my favorite places in NYC.  Our apartment building is also a renovated factory, so the walls are thick. I never hear my neighbors and I pray it's the same for them, especially when Jonathan has one of his meltdowns (he had three last week, during that "hard for him to wake up" morning time) and just had one while I was writing this post - primarily because I was NOT paying attention to him (spoiled, spoiled, spoiled:->).

In this business district, Club Med has their headquarters office there.  I had not realized it was a French-based company. It's funny, but my first solo vacation that kicked off my travel bug was a Club Med vacation to Martinique in 1990.  It was a riot. I had a great time and also realized that rum and I do not go well together!

Anyway, there's so much to love about the 19th and hope to expose more and more of it during our time here...but not too much. I like that it's the Paris that most tourist don't see. It's real, gritty and absolutely lovely...

Here's our place (btw:  After I took these pics, I realized that it's best not to have the naked lady artwork in clear view of a preschooler; so they are now under the futon!):