Paris.

The City of Lights. The City of Love (locks). The city that captured my ten year old heart long before bucket lists and wanderlust meant anything to me.

My ooh la la obsession with Paris began with the Eiffel Tower. It was literally love at first sight of a photo of this iconic landmark. I poured into learning as much as I could about its history and engineering (and yes, I even mastered the Eiffel Tower 3D puzzle!); and, from that point on, I was drawn to all things Parisian.
Traveling to the French capital was my first major someday dream – besides being valedictorian. (No really. I was a seriously nerdy 2nd grader.) I often envisioned myself standing at the base of the Eiffel Tower, gazing upward to behold its industrial whimsy. Visualizing the dream… that was easy. Believing it would happen? Let’s just say I had my doubts over the years. Twenty-three years, to be exact.

I actually didn’t travel outside of the US at all until I was twenty-two, and that was to Ireland (which, side note, is my #1 favorite place in the world. Sorry Paris!) Buuuut, back to my lack of travels. Other than occasional dips into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, I rarely traveled outside my home state of Michigan until that trip to Ireland (which was also my first EVER flight, but I’ll save that story for another post). Suffice it to say, I was severely travel repressed for a good long while.
Fast forward to age thirty-three, and I was tired of dreaming about Paris. Not because I no longer cared to go, but because I still hadn’t gone. It was truly unacceptable. I subscribed to Scott’s Cheap Flights (seriously, doooooo it!) admittedly still in dream mode; but, one fateful November day, I received a deal alert for ridiculously cheap airfare from Orlando to Paris, and the rest is history.
Ok, so I will actually tell you the rest, just not today. For now, the moral of the story is this:

I used to envy people who figured out how to make their dreams come true. Now, I admire them. What a waste of life to resent those who live their dreams, when they should be a source of motivation. Right??
So… LIVE YOUR DREAMS. You can make them possible. Yes you.

Do you have any long-time, unfulfilled dreams? Or, have you recently lived a dream, too? Please share below. I wanna know!