FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Beautiful post today. Just simply beautiful. Bon courage.

Best Wishes & Love to you both. Peace will come with a Pathway.

Good luck with whatever you do next, wherever you may go. You have touched many people with your posts. Thank you for your generosity, your honesty and your bravery. Bon courage is the word for today.

The end of one and start of a new adventure. Embrace it. Xxxxx

Beautiful photo, beautiful words... sometimes the hardest thing to do is to let go, and trust. Once you do this, all fits in the universe. Courage!

Oh good luck. Lacher prise... Nicola

A broken farmer's soul.
My dear Kristi you and Jean-Marc have been a part of my life for so long. In that time I have lost a love, raised two boys, and gained a love.

The look on Jean-Marc's face...the fruit of his labour's on his shirt.
That far away look in his eye's, the look of love when he's looking at you.
And you Lady...the depth of feeling when you write, you can always bring me to tears.

Keep on the path your on Kristi, it leads to happiness.

And really, what could be more important than Love and Peace? You have them both.

We all need to let go of the present to openly meet the future. thank you for a lovely, inspiring post, Kristi.

Thank you Kristi for today's post. Pas facile mais nécessaire. Bon courage pour nous deux. xoxo

Dear Kristi,

These have to be the most beautiful and touching words you have written so far, a signature post. The peace you feel spills over into the heart of this reader and tears wash away fears. Have you resigned? I think not...you have not given in. You and Jean-Marc are moving through the passages of life and a feeling of freedom can come from letting go.

As your future unfolds, may it reinforce the decisions bringing you to today. God bless you both.

When one door closes, another door opens! Does this phrase/sentiment exist in French?

Your babies have left the nest! It is time for you and your soul mate to embark on your next journey! Who knows what awaits you! Bon voyage!

With sincere warmth and best wishes,
Eileen

A beautiful and encouraging post for all of us who have come to love you and your family. I will pray for God's continued peace and guidance for you. As a lover of all things french, I love your blog and eagerly await for it in my inbox. Best wishes for this season and all seasons to come.

What an extraordinarily beautiful poem, Kristin. Full of faith and courage. My heart and prayers are with you.

Blessings and prayers. It is the journey, and how we live it, that counts the most. xoxo Mary

Yes, I feel that peace for you
Life is a journey

So sad you are leaving. I feel as though I am leaving too, for in reality, I know I will one day have to face the same departure from my little bit of Paradise.
Good luck.
Ron.

This is just beautiful. No matter when you land you will have beauty and peace. When we have to fight too hard for something, it probably means that there are only better things waiting for us. More peace, more happiness, more of everything !

I love reading your posts, thank you for sharing your life with us.

I wish you peace and happiness. You have become an important part of my life and I will miss you. Please don't stay gone.

Thank you for teaching me lacher prise today. It is such a coincidence because last night I also decided to Let go, Let God. I often forget this as I struggle to attain the things I want and end up being disappointed when I don't get them. But letting go is so much better than the struggle.

Cheering you on!

I wish you and your family a wonderful New Journey . It really is amazing sometimes how the hardest things we think we are doing can turn into joy and new beginnings. A new surprise awaits you . Sometimes we just don't know we are doing the right thing until we do it - et voila !!! I am so happy I read "French Word a Day" a few years back and have been able to enjoy your writings and learned some delicious new French phrases. Merci, Patricia........ Lache Prise - perfect.

Somehow I always felt you would experience this sense of peace with letting go. Have been following you a long time. You will find another place to put down roots, ( literally and figurative), and then will come the excitement of a new venture and new stability in your lives. It will all be for the good. You'll see.
I think I am speaking for all of your readers in that we wish the very best for you and your family, and that comes from love.

Wishing you love and blessings as you move forward. I have truly loved reading your life's stories. May peace, love and joy guide you and your lovely family always. Hugs.

I have admired your writing and stories for many years. I, too, rarely comment on your posts, but felt called to today. I am sending warm thoughts to you and J-M. Your courage, strength and embrace of life's crooked path inspires so many of us.

Your post today made me cry. It must be very hard to let go of such a beautiful place. I spent a couple of weeks in Velaux and Marseille last summer andapplied for a job in Marseille because I fell in love with the south of France. I am glad that you have found peace. May the next step in your life bring much joy and beauty.
Gina

Lovely.
At my age there have been many places left and many new beginnings. There are now friends in many places whom I rarely see or hear from, but like flowers in the desert, the friendship blooms when we do connect. All along the path there have also been losses of friends and family that are more permanent. The "lâcher prise" aspect of life is difficult for me, but to learn to accomplish it gracefully is an important part of spiritual development. The more you are invested in life and being present to the moment, the more you enjoy life, and the more difficult it is to let go, but it frees you for the next moment, the next adventure. And as you move on, not everything is left behind - you have memories of the times and places and people that you can treasure, and which enrich your life, and in your case what you share with us enriches ours as well.

Keep the memories and begin a new adventure. I am glad you have made a decision.

Dear Kristi:
I was so touched by this poem and the photo of Jean Marc. To let go means to start anew.
It is not where we live, but HOW we live that defines who we are. You and J.M. will bring your wonderful love wherever you go. Sending you blessings as you journey ahead,
Janine

It is hard to finish a chapter in your lives. But remember it is only in that way that you can open the new one before you that waits to be written.
Bises et Bon Courage!

Sun rise always comes after the sun set. There is much more for you and your family. I am so looking forward to see where life will take you.

This was such a lovely post today. Bless you and your family.

Our dear Kristi,
What a beautiful poem,one written by a beautiful,kind,and thoughtful soul.
What makes us happiest,though,is that you have found peace,and will take the next steps forward with a smile on both your face and in your heart.
In my life most of the overcoming of challenges has been shown by closed doors as well as open ones.Change has always been there,looming on the horizon.
You have given us example of how to get to there from here
with certainty that how we are guided is no accident.
Thank you!
Blessings and prayers to you both.
Love
Natalia. xo

So beautiful, Kristi, and so relatable for me at this time. Uncertainty is not easy to embrace, even for those who have grown accustomed to it. Sending you and JM so much love!

An honest and exquisite poem which is full of your emotions as you look to the future ... a wonderful future, I'm certain. My best wishes as you and Jean-Marc make these decisions.

As long as you're together, you're home, wherever you go! ❤️

Sandy

I have had this posted on my bathroom mirror for years. It reminds me to face those unexpected things that always happen in everyone's life:
"The world breaks everyone. Then some become stronger at the broken places." Hemingway
Bon courage. And peace.

Dearest Kristi,
Thank you for your gift of sharing yourself and your life with us. I've saved all of your mail messages. My unrequited French self is sweetened and cheered by your sharing. {My mother's family was French, and my Irish father spent WWI flying for the Allies in France--then he worked for a NY law firm in their Paris branch, and eventually married my mother in NY City, and took her to live in Paris. I wasn't born until much later, and have longed for more France and Paris and Provence.
Currently, I'm in the middle of a move (from Princeton NJ to 5 miles south in Lawrenceville. I have no words to describe how arduous this can be, but I'm alive to say, YOU CAN DO IT with élan!
You now have a larger "family" who love and appreciate you and Jean-Marc.
Valerie

Beautiful, touching poem and photo, Kristi. Keep listening for His whispers, looking for His fingerprints, feeling His loving arms around you. You are letting go of a dream way more gracefully than I usually do. Bon courage.

Patricia, I understand, completely!

Breath in joy. Breath out joy.
Shannon Crossman wrote, "understand the need for smouldering ash. An essential pieace of my operating system is being overwritten. I will not emerge the same."
From reading your posts, I believe that where ever/what ever comes next , you both will be beautiful souls.

Dear Kristi,

So beautifully written. Through your courage and peace, we will find ours. You are so inspirational.

Beautiful words Kristin. But I'm hopelessly behind --- I'm not sure if you are moving, staying or in between. We all have many journeys in our lives ---- We were a military family for 20 years and my kids always said: We're the adventure people! It was a super positive way to look at our frequent moves. I wish you many adventures !!

Hi Jeanne --- I'm in Oregon. I just want to say I am impressed with your theme: Elegant Endings and Bountiful Beginnings. It is thought provoking and lovely. Thanks.

Dear Kristin: Loved the pic of you in 1993;you continue to be the lovely couple. You will succeed where ever and whatever. Please continue writing and especially including the vocabulary. Vaya con Dios. Vivian

YES to such peace, and to its subtle arrival, Kristi. You poem's power is remarkable, and I love how, in its form and its spareness, it reveals the sublime simplicity of inner peace recognized by the heart.
YES: all IS well now, now, and now. Much love to you both.

PS
(For my own reflection en français, I like this brief blog ...
"Lâcher prise, c’est renoncer à tout contrôler, à vouloir le bien de l’autre, c’est renoncer à prouver quoi que ce soit, c’est accepter que l’autre est l’autre et que moi-même, je suis qui je suis et non pas qui j’avais rêvé d’être.

Lâcher prise, c’est faire confiance, c’est signer un chèque en blanc sur l’avenir, sur cette vie et sur ce qui lui fait suite.

Lâcher prise, c’est cesser de faire le procès de la vie qui ne nous donne pas ce que nous en attendions.

En fait, lâcher prise, c’est commencer à être vraiment heureux, car le bonheur, c’est comme un sillage, il suit fidèlement celui qui ne le poursuit pas. Si l’on s’arrête pour le contempler, pour le saisir, il s’évanouit aussitôt.

À partir du moment où l’on peut lâcher prise, où l’on ne désire plus être heureux à tout prix, on découvre que le bonheur, c’est cette capacité de garder les mains ouvertes plutôt que de les laisser agrippées sur ce que nous croyons nous être indispensable. — Rosette Poletti et Barbara Dobbs - (Petites douceurs pour le coeur, p. 25)

Pensée de la semaine : La souffrance naît de notre attachement à nos problèmes et de notre résistance. Elle témoigne de notre refus de nous laisser couler avec confiance et abandon avec la Vie."
http://www.lapetitedouceur.org/article-28350328.html

Sending you all love and light.

XOXO

All of your faithful readers will look forward to the next chapter of your book.....Go forward with clear visions.

Dear Jean-Marc & Kristi,

The beautiful words of the poem touched my heart. Thank you so much for again posting the photo of you two in 1993. I love, love, love that photo and promise to save it this time, along with your wedding photo. My prayers are with you.

Bisous,
Linda

Dear Kristi,
You have brought tears to my eyes more than once in the years that I have been reading your posts, and this one touched me more than ever. You and JM are going to start another phase of your lives and although leaving the "Land of Milk and Honey" will be bittersweet, the best is yet to come. I hope whatever you & JM undertake in the future, you will continue to write and share your endearing views on life, love and the environment. You may remain in France or wherever the Mistral takes you... scary but so exciting at the same time. Just as it was when you & JM first met, yes?

Dear Kristin, how beautifully put and Oliver Keatings repliied so wonderfully to you, he speaks for all of us who have followed you for so long and grown so fond, at a distance, of you and your family. You have shared your life so generously with us that we feel your disrupted life keenly. I like that old saying, it's not where you are, it's who you're with. Thank heavens you and Jean-Marc have each other. Long ago my husband and I decided that life is simply a series of adventures and that resignation is not the answer, it's simply defeatist, adaptability and embracing the new, no matter what it is, frees one up to enjoy whatever comes next and remember what that wonderful woman Nora Ephron said, it's all copy!