Should We Move to Paris?

Should we move to Paris or not?

We thought the decision was made yesterday, but we're still waffling. It's such a huge life altering commitment for a couple of homebodies who met and grew up in Casper, Wyoming.

I've been doing a lot of Internet research about Paris and it seems that the vast majority of people who move there from other countries are under the age of 25, and they are mostly students, nannies, and the like. Melanie and I are well past 50 (I am 53 and she is 54); are we too old to pick up and move to another part of the planet?

We're a couple of old farts

We have fallen into a pretty comfortable routine here! Melanie plays games and watches TV while I'm at work, then after I get home we have a nice dinner and watch TV until bedtime. Lather, rinse, repeat. On the weekends I like to BBQ... and watch TV. Okay, on paper that might look sort of boring, but it makes us happy. Isn't that what we all want? To be happy?

On the other hand, I've seen people settle contentedly into mundane existences and I don't know if that's because they are actually satisfied with their lives, or because they have simply grown accustomed to their non-challenging lifestyles. Is that really living? Unless you believe in re-incarnation (I don't) you only get one shot on this planet... shouldn't life be lived to the fullest?

Yes! I told Melanie, "I think we should move to Paris!" Sort of zombie-like Melanie replied, "Okay, let's move to Paris." I said, "I'm not kidding! I'm going to go upstairs right now and accept the job... Here I go... I'm heading up to my office..."

As I climbed the stairs I began to yell down, "I'M ALMOST TO MY OFFICE... I'M WALKING TO THE COMPUTER... I'M GOING TO ACCEPT THE JOB... I'M OPENING THE E-MAIL... OKAY, NOW I'M TYPING MY ACCEPTANCE..."

<tappity tap tappity tap tap tap tappity tap>

"THE E-MAIL IS FINISHED... I'M HITTING SEND... RIGHT NOW... HERE I GO... I'M REALLY GOING TO DO IT..."

Silence. She wasn't stopping me.

<click>

I walked downstairs and Melanie looked at me, a little wide-eyed. "Did you do it?"

"Yup."

"Well okay then. It looks like we are moving to Paris."

"Uh-huh."

I think part of me was hoping that, once I hit send and the decision was finally made, we would both feel relieved and instantly become ecstatically happy. That wasn't the case. It took a few hours for the idea to sink in even a little bit, and when it did it filled us simultaneously with excitement and dread.

I called our daughter Autumn and left a message on her smartphone. We were to learn later that she heard the message while in a meeting at work and got a very stricken look on her face. Her boss asked, "Autumn, are you okay?" She reportedly stammered, "My... my... parents are moving to Paris!"