Our Own Moveable Feasts

Memories of New York, the pull of New England, and the journeys that stay with us

Hemingway once said, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you. For Paris is a moveable feast.”

I’ve thought about that quote a lot over the years. Not just Paris……..New York, Boston, San Francisco. Any city with a personality that you can feel.

I know this because I lived it.

In my mid-twenties, I lived in New York City. Three years on Madison Avenue. I rode the train to work, walked across the city for meetings, spent time rollerblading through Central Park, and indulged in new experiences that gave me a perspective I wouldn’t otherwise have. I worked hard, I played hard, and I exuberantly absorbed it all. Thirty years later, it’s still with me…. I can still feel it inside me… Those years helped shape who I am today.

And I want that for my kids.

When they’re done with college, my hope is that they spend time somewhere that stretches them, excites them, maybe even exhausts them a little. Because those are experiences you carry forever.

I was reminded of that recently, on a couple of trips from the Midwest back to New England, where I grew up and where my family still lives. We walked Newbury Street in Boston, drove along the New Hampshire coast, stood among the trees in the mountains of Maine. We visited some small towns that feel frozen in time. And I fell in love with it all over again. But it wasn’t just nostalgia.

It was something pulling me...

For nearly three decades now, I’ve lived in St. Louis. This is where I built a career, raised my family, lived through both joy and heartbreak. But as I’ve always told my kids: get outside your comfort zone because that’s where you grow, where life happens, and where you become uniquely you!

And they listened.

After losing their mom, they both took risks. My son is in school in Philadelphia….my daughter in Madison. They’re each creating experiences that will stay with them long after they’ve graduated.

Watching them grow has made me wonder if it’s time to take my own advice.

Maybe it’s time for me to be uncomfortable again. To get lost driving to the grocery store. To walk into a coffee shop where no one knows us. To rediscover who I am in the place it all started.

I am ready to write a new chapter in an old book.

Because Hemingway was right… “it stays with you”.

But…

You have to take the leap first.

You have to go.

So, I am going……