A Birthday Paris-Style

I feel like I went to Paris for my birthday a few weekends ago. 

But I’m pretty sure I didn’t leave Florida. 

Everything about my birthday was Paris-centric. 

I had a girls' lunch outing with my mother, sister and niece at a café called the Paris Bistro. 

Next door to the bistro was a French bakery, where as the birthday girl, I was treated to a box of brightly colored macarons. 

My birthday gifts were Paris-themed --books about French cooking and Parisian decorating, a Paris shower curtain and even a Paris trash can. 

All of them were wrapped in pretty Paris paper.

I am a little dumbfounded with my obsession with all things Paris. 

I often tire of those who seem to talk about only one topic, person or place. And here I am, crazy about Paris. But I really shouldn’t be surprised. My life is kind of a pattern on a single theme. 

Growing up, I was immersed in the Pittsburgh sports scene. I loved the Steelers football, Pirates baseball and Penguins hockey teams. 

My room was a shrine to all things sports, plastered with pennants, posters and a bulletin board full of newspaper clippings. 

For holidays and my birthday, my gifts were always colored in Pittsburgh black and gold. I even had a pair of pajamas emblazoned with the number of my favorite player on the Pirates. 

So I’m beginning to think I’m a little prone to monomania.

Since she hears me talk so much about Paris, my niece Devon was really excited about my birthday. 

Her present to me was a Paris notepad and pen, along with some lavender Paris notecards. 

For my birthday lunch, she wore her black Paris dress adorned with tiny pink Eiffel Towers and Arc de Triomphes. 

She told me she’d been imagining that the café would have pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe on the walls, just like her dress.

When we got there, the décor was opulent with cranberry toile wallpaper, large mirrors, rich red velvet booths and crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. 

But Devon said it wasn’t quite like she’d imagined it. She wrinkled her nose and said nothing on the French menu sounded good to her. She ate bags of goldfish and Cheez-its from my sister's purse. 

Not even the profiteroles for dessert tempted her to taste a bite of a French pastry. I'm hoping someday she might change her mind about French food.

But I never want her to change her mind about Paris. Right now she loves Paris because I love Paris. And I love it that she loves it, too. 

In a few years, I'm sure she'll add other people and places and things she'll adore, just like Paris. 

Looking over my birthday gifts, she tells that she thinks the Paris shower curtain and trash can would look nice in my guest bathroom. Which just happens to be her bathroom when she comes over to spend the night. 

I tell her yes. We’ll deck out her bathroom in Paris décor. 

Today her dreams are of puppies and Paris. Who knows what they may be tomorrow. 

Or where they will lead her. It’s never too early for her to start dreaming. And one day discover the God-sized dreams awaiting her. 

And I'll be right there by her side telling her, "J'taime."