Regrets

our "office" in Paris

Not unlike Sinatra, I've had my share of regrets. One of the more painful ones (because of its far-reaching consequences) was not backing up our laptop when we lived abroad. When it died - and it did not go naturally, I caused its premature demise by spilling wine (we were in Paris, mind you) on the keyboard and watched in horror as it sizzled - it took with it many precious things.

No matter how hard we tried and how many professionals we've consulted, the damage was irreversible.

Gone were the work files, word documents, my writing projects. It took a long time to duplicate our work but by now the scars are barely visible.

Except, for the loss of our pictures...To this day I mourn the hundreds and hundreds of special moments caught on digital camera and transferred onto the laptop, only to have them perish forever.

Peter in his Pollyanna fashion looks at it as an impetus to do it all over again - to travel to foreign countries, to visit old friends and distant relatives, to live in Paris again...But how do you recreate those wondrous first impressions of the bateau-mouche cruise on the Seine, of the original Magna Carta at the British Library in London, of the endless rows of dazzling white crosses at the American Cemetery in Normandy, of the Baltic seaside jazz concert in Sopot or the chaotic energy of the Ramblas in Barcelona?

It will be hard, but we must try ;-)