Celebrating at the Eiffel Tower
© Meredith Mullins

Life Lessons from The Year in Review

The end of the year inspires reflections, accolades, and lists.

The year in review. Favorite films. Important deaths and births. Mayoral gaffs. Best books. Rudest awakenings. Most inspiring quotes. Persons of the year.

I like these lists—for their role in examining what moments had impact on our lives and for reminding us just how much happens in a year.

I invariably say “Wow, did that happen THIS year? It seems like a lifetime ago.”

I look back on 2013 (another adventure-filled year in Paris) and offer ten of my most memorable “Oh, I See” moments.

These selections were all life changing—not in a dramatic way but in a way that still felt deep and long lasting, and made me continue to see the world from a new perspective.

The Silence of Snow

A transformative snowstorm at the Louvre
© Meredith Mullins

Snow is rare in Paris. When the flurries swirl, magic happens. Usually, the dusting of flakes is gone within hours. This January, however, the whiteness endured.

Like the voice of snow itself, the world was soft, muffled, and muted. Places usually familiar were transformed into graphic elements of white and dark, lines, forms, and textures. A new city was born . . . and it was simply beautiful.

A rare view of the Eiffel Tower, simplified by snow
© Meredith Mullins

The Kindness of Strangers

Abdel, the owner of a tiny Ile St Louis grocery, was friendly to me even as a stranger. When I first arrived in Paris, he loaned me taxi money, without knowing who I was, and without hesitation.

Abdel, the nicest grocery owner in Paris, always has a smile.
© Meredith Mullins

Now, thousands of bonjours later, he is a friend, a neighbor, and one of the nicest people I know. He works from 6 am until midnight and always has a smile.

With Abdel, the memorable moments happen every day. The lesson I want to learn is how to be more like him.

The Rising of the Seine

The Seine is a constant source of memorable moments. It is the life pulse of Paris. It rises. It falls. It churns. It reflects. It breathes.

In February, with one huge exhale, it spilled over its banks and changed landscape into riverscape.

What was once land was now river.
© Meredith Mullins

While there were, sadly, many floods and tsunamis in the world this year that were far more disastrous, I was still riveted by the changing water. I watched each day as it rose and covered more land-based things. Inch by inch.

Each day as the river rose, a gangplank extension appeared.
© Meredith Mullins

When you live on an island in the middle of the Seine (as I do) or on a barge near the river, you pay close attention to those inches.

And you begin to ask yourself what is important to save from your home should disaster come. An interesting question to ask, flood or no flood.

The Year of the Pet

Parisians’ love of cats and dogs is legendary. Evidence of this love exists in many forms—from The Cat Café to fluffy pet heads popping out of Gucci handbags on the metro.

The good life
© Meredith Mullins

Dogs strut into restaurants with their owners (no health laws here). Cats curl up in sunny window sills of apartment after apartment. Puppies provide warmth and companionship to the homeless.

In a city that could get lonely, dogs and cats offer way to connect— memorable moments that bring us closer together and make us smile, even when life gets tough.

The true meaning of cat walk
© Meredith Mullins

The Vibrance of Spring

It’s official—whether truth or perception: Every spring in Paris is more vibrant than the one before.

Perhaps it’s because the winters grow colder and grayer each year, making the long-awaited change in weather even more spectacular.

The vibrance of spring (without Photoshop)
© Meredith Mullins

The flowers bloom with such force that you can see petals springing open if you pause long enough. The colors are so rich that, even in truthful images, you have to suspect a Photoshop dalliance.

The whole city comes alive to worship the sun, the gardens, and the fine art of café sitting.

And you think to yourself, could next year be even more beautiful?

Yes.

Springtime at the Palace of Versailles
© Meredith Mullins

The Americanization of Paris

What is so appealing about fast food, pizza delivery, vending machines with M&Ms, and Law and Order and CSI dubbed into French on prime time TV?

Those of us who came to France for the elegance of the culture and a deeper level of life appreciation are scared.

American culture is sweeping through Paris at an alarming rate.

Norbert from Reminet presenting vintage 2013
© Meredith Mullins

Admittedly, I am personally responsible for the pairing of diet coke (vintage 2013) with French dejeuner. (People frowned at first, but now it’s common practice.)

However, I have to draw the line.

Those of us who have lived through what will become Paris’s inevitable future know there is a price to be paid.

Ready to meet the demand
© Meredith Mulins

The Importance of Elegance

Paris events are an art form all their own. Nuit Blanche, Fête de la Musique, Nuit de Musées, and hundreds of festivals and parades keep the city alive with culture.

My choice for “most memorable” event this year was the White Dinner (Diner en Blanc).

Thousands of the elite secret club celebrate the Diner en Blanc.
© Meredith Mullins

I wasn’t invited, mind you. I’m not cool enough (yet) to be part of this clandestine club (even though there are 11,000 elite members).

But once the secret location is announced (minutes before the event is to start), it’s not hard to find thousands of people dressed in white carrying candelabras and champagne.

The key word is elegance—white garden party dress, crystal and silver place settings, white linen tablecloths, and the grace to welcome an uninvited guest (like me) with a glass of champagne.

The Celebration of Liberty

Bastille Day at the Eiffel Tower
© Meredith Mullins

Any time there are fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, it’s a memorable moment.

Combine that with the French Independence Day (Bastille Day), and the fiery explosions shake the very roots of liberté, egalité, fraternité.

Vive la France!

Exhibit of the Year

Salgado, Kahlo/Rivera, Braque, Karsh, Chagall, Boudin?

Who would have thought I would vote for a tower of street art as the best exhibit of the year?

Mirrored eye at the Tour 13 (work by Mosko from France)
Photo © Meredith Mullins

The Tour 13 was so creative and so provocative of place that I dreamt about it for weeks after seeing it.

Each street artist who was invited to create a part of the nine-story building (whether a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, or a closet) made the space his or her own, saying whatever they wanted in whatever way they wanted.

Great art leaves an impression long after the immediate experience. If my vivid dreams and strong visual memories of these installations are an indication, this was art of the greatest kind.

Tour 13 (Work by Pantonio from Portugal)
Photo © Meredith Mullins

The Art of Looking Up

Oh, I see.

Often it’s just the wandering that offers the beauty and adventure. Walks through Paris in the changing light often left me sighing with sheer joy.

For me this year, the most precious moments came from the simple art of looking up.

The simple art of walking home and looking up
© Meredith Mullins

Here’s to many memorable moments in 2014. Happy New Year from OIC.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.