A Fairy Tale , pt I

Once Upon A Time ,

a mom from a small town in the middle of America decided to take her children to Paris for spring break.



Her friends and co - workers, for this was middle class town, felt such ideas were outlandish, bizarre, that this was the wildest thing they had ever heard of. The general response to the question, "What are you doing for spring break ? " , was supposed to take one of the following forms :

a)going to South Padre Island or maybe Cancun

b)working in my yard, around the house some

c)not much

d)visiting my in-laws , ugh !



One poor inquirer actually looked at this brave stalwart mom as if she'd lost her mind. For you see, her children, the very ones she was planning to take with her, were.......( da-da-DA-dum ) teenagers.

Now, the mom in this story knew there would be some silly behaviors, foolin' around, not taking things too seriously. Children need down time, they need to balance adventure with familiarity and a structured routine. With the generous and indefatigable help of these children's godfather, they cleverly arranged for these children to stay in a small , charming apartment in the Montemarte area of Paris.

This apartment was just down the street from a picturesque little store , one that was featured in the movie "Amalie". The mother and her children developed the rather hard to give up habit of popping in to the local bakery every morning, for pastries, which they brought back to the apartment and ate while getting dressed and ready for the day's adventures.

Their godfather excitedly, and with great patience, took them all over the wonderful "City of Lights" and gave them lessons on history, art, culture, cuisine , and French language.