It was the big 4-0 trip. What elated me most about this trip was showing myself how brave I actually was. I'm all for a single gal's trip! Undoubtedly, I found it incredibility peaceful. I'll go on record saying if I would have brought my children with me to France, I would have stayed and it would have been a one-way trip. The part that was brave was boarding on an 8-hour flight. Now, I've never been afraid of flying. One of my earliest memories was being on a flight to and from the Philippines where my mom and I had stayed for some time when I was little. It wasn't that I was afraid of flying, at least up until 2016 when I boarded a flight in the dead of winter during a snowstorm. Everything was fine until the plane reached Illinois. From that point the plane shook nonstop in what felt like over an hour (possibly longer). I knew I wasn't afraid of flying. But I was frozen from boarding another flight again until 2024. That's when I took it upon myself to commit to some of my own self exposure therapy. Although I took a domestic flight to San Diego, CA earlier that year (which technically (and in fact) deemed my first time officially back on a flight), traveling to France was much further and I did it alone. Words cannot describe the empowerment one gets overcoming a fear. What always sat with me was I knew one day I'd get back on a flight. I was determined. So, I write this first blog as a small piece of revealing my own vulnerabilities and how proud I was of myself. With that said, I look forward to being proud of your own accomplishments in therapy (both big & small). I can't wait to share and grow alongside you.

Also....if you make it to Paris yourself, there's a street restaurant called L'as Du Fallafel (I found it on Tic Tok). It's downtown somewhat next to the Seine River. They make the best middle eastern wraps......ever!