eiffel tower 1
EIFFEL TOWER 1, 8X10
My first glimpse of her was out the airplane window. I didn’t expect that I could see her from up in the air but she was so majestic and iconic that she rose up out of the city like a beacon. It sent a little thrill in my heart to see her with my own eyes. I’ve waited my whole life to see the Eiffel Tower myself and here I was. It makes sense that Paris is the city of love and the city of light, because this whole trip was the most grand gesture of love I’ve ever received. My husband went through two different masters degrees during our marriage and I was right there next to him, supporting him as much as I could, handling the homefront, editing his papers, helping navigate our lives around his class and homework schedules. Every semester we’d save up the money for the next semester so he could keep going to school and progressing in his education. The plan was that he’d keep going all the way and get his PhD, and we worked for years to make that goal happen. In the end, there was no path that got us there and it was disappointing to let that dream go. But, this is how incredible my husband is. He came home the day he found out he didn’t get in to the last PhD program he applied to and handed me an envelope. Inside was a handwritten note, “Plane ticket to your choice: France, Italy or Hawaii.” All my dream destinations that I had never been to. He wanted to take the money we’d saved up for his next round of schooling and use it to make my dreams come true instead. Love. Love also looks like riding the elevator up the Eiffel Tower with me and then the wind being super crazy that day and the whole tower swaying back and forth and same husband who doesn’t love heights holding on to the railing and saying, “Stay as long as you want and enjoy it all” while hating the vertigo and loving me at the same time. This man. This city of love. Me sacrificing to make his dreams come true. Him sacrificing to make my dreams come true. Us laughing our way through the imperfect beauty of both our dreams and both our ups and downs. The Eiffel Tower will have the softest spot in my heart for representing all of this in my story. Light and love forever. #snapshotsshow All paintings available through @alpineartframe
