I want to Live a Million Lives

Why I didn't stay here forever Les Calanques de Marseille

I had a pretty standard American upbringing in the sprawls of Atlanta. My parents and sisters loved and supported me, I got a good education, participated in extracurricular activities, went to church, excelled in school and learned to become an independent thinker and doer.

When I graduated college I decided I wanted to move to the South of France. My parents were less than thrilled at the idea of my moving across the Atlantic without a job and knowing no one. My mom asked me one day, "What do you want to do? I mean, what is your ultimate goal."

Without much hesitation I responded, "I want to live a million different lives."

Understandably she was shocked and confused, to say the least. But after two years of living in France, I had mastered the language, made friends, traveled all over Europe, and landed a job teaching high school English. I was happy, and my parents were proud of my success. 

Farming at La maison du vert 

Though I loved my life living and teaching in Provence, I started to get itchy feet again, and I decided it was time for another chapter, so I spent the summer working on organic farms in the French countryside. Idyllic doesn't even begin to describe my life that summer picking strawberries, making my own bread, planting rows of cabbage, feeding chickens, biking to castles, hitchhiking, and absorbing the kindness, knowledge and love that I came in contact with. 

But I had to keep living. I had many more lives to live. So I returned to the States and got my first "real job" working for the French Consulate in Atlanta. As my friends observed, I found perhaps the only job in Atlanta using both my French and Journalism degrees, both of which I thought would be useless pieces of paper that would forever remain rolled up in my closet. 

In addition to my charming carriage house apartment, I had a stable government job with five weeks vacation, I finished work at 2 pm on Fridays, and I had opportunities to meet politicians, diplomats, international artists, Nobel prize winners, and renowned museum curators. I loved this life, and I adored learning to love the city of Atlanta, but I noticed boredom and complacency were starting to creep into my life, so I began plotting my next move. 

I spent the winter rarely going out, meditating, doing yoga, saving money, and researching new cities and bigger opportunities. When asked why people rarely saw me, I told them that I was hibernating in my cocoon for the winter and added, "I will emerge with wings." Quietly and patiently, I plotted my escape, until the pull of New York City could no longer be resisted. 

I sold my scooter, bed and car. I packed my minimal belongings and bought a one-way ticket to  New York. And so here I am. Another soul among the millions. Lost as ever, but if I am going to live a million different lives, one of them has to be here, right?