hello, sun

Carol: Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me.


Her story is my favorite bit from Paris, je t'aime.


Any time I go anywhere, I'm always amazed at how same things are. I am amazed that when I wake up miles away across oceans that the sun shines through the window onto the bed just like it does in New York. I am surprised that the sun sets and kisses my face good-bye just like it does here in New York. I am amazed that I feel the same, feel the same joys, feel the same worries.


When I was young and I went to Peru in the summers, before boarding the plane, standing at the security checks, I felt that I would become changed when I crossed those barriers. That I would transition on the plane ride and step foot onto Peruvian soil slightly altered. I would almost always fall asleep, and as I woke up walking out of Lima International and sitting in the car ride to San Borja, I'd realize to my satisfaction that I was still the same.