Cinderella Dressed in Yella (Bayonne, Week 5)

Last week I bought a jumprope. It is bright green. Every morning this week I have woken up super happy because I get to jump rope for the first 30 minutes of my day. I am really bad at it. But I am improving. This week, it took 135 doctors. (And yeah, I totally do "Cinderella Dressed in Yella" in my head. Every time. Six years old, me.)

I want to write about a lady out here that I'm getting to know. She brings joy everywhere she goes. She hugs people and shares beauty with them and love and whenever she walks in a room (no exaggeration here--I saw it at least three times in the last 2 days), people run to her and hug her and kiss her cheeks and giggle they are so happy to see her. I'm trying to learn from her how she does what she does--how she can make every person she comes across feel lighter and happier. She loves everyone, exactly as they are, and for some reason, they can feel that and it brings out the best in everyone. It brings out the child in everyone.

Today was our preparation day and we had lunch at a creperie just around the corner from the cathedral. There we were, in the middle of this cobblestone rue, and there was a breeze coming down way, and pigeons overhead, and the cathedral bells. We went inside the cathedral too for a moment, and I remembered that cathedrals have a beautiful smell--one that you really only find in cathedrals. Maybe it's the old wood pews and the cold stone and the maroon paint in the frescos...I stood in the doorway and just smelled it for a while, remembering the other cathedrals of a couple of summers ago.