Figureoutable Love in Paris

In this episode, Cherese recounts an unforgettable story from her family trip to Paris, exploring the beauty of human connection and the surprises that can come from unexpected encounters. Join her as she takes you through the charming streets of Paris, and shares the wisdom she gleaned from this inspiring experience. This episode is a reminder that life’s most valuable lessons can come from the most unexpected places.

Hey, friends, this is Cherese Lee, and you're listening to the Just Waiting for You podcast. Whether the sun is shining where you are in life today, or you're walking through a crappy storm, and you really wish you got some rain boots. The power of a story is sometimes all you need for that perspective shift. Hang out with us for a few minutes and find out what happens when you realize that someone is just waiting for you.

It's a story. It’s just a story. Last week was spring break for our little kids that still live at home, and we went to Europe, you guys. It was amazingggg. We flew into London and spent four nights there and then took the train to Paris and had four nights there. And yeah, if you can't tell from my voice, it was awesome. It really was. And my girls have said that it's worth the jetlag. I'm on day four of jetlag? Three? I don't even know. See, this is the problem. Yes, it was worth the jetlag. Yes, I also wish jetlag wasn't real because waking up at 1 a.m. just feeling like you're ready to start the day is kind of the pits when 6 hours later you have to actually start the day.

So anyway, one of my favorite days of the trip was the last day we were in Paris, and we took the metro over to the Eiffel Tower. And if you've not been to Paris, which I realize (I mean, you guys, I didn't even own a passport until I was 40 so don't take me for some, you know, lifelong world traveler).

Okay. Now that we've established that if you haven't been to Paris (assuming most people haven't) When you get off of the Metro, you come up the stairs when you're at that stop and you kind of round the corner to the left and boom, it's just right there. It's..It's yeah, it's amazing. So we took the metro there and saw the Eiffel Tower in all of her glory.

We did the obligatory photos and the silly ones and the beautiful ones and the Instagram worthy ones. And we were lucky enough that it was pretty cloudy when we got on the metro. Only went a few stops and when we came up those stairs, the sun came out. It was just kind of, Ahhh. So we did get some really good pictures.

And then our tour guide (a.k.a my husband Brandon) said that he had a great idea that he'd read about, and we should walk over to a street called Rue Cler. Also sidebar. Yes, I started taking French in the fourth grade. Ye, when I got to high school, I got D’s in French. Yes, I will butcher these names. Yes, I have lived my entire life minus three years, maybe, in Appalachia. So there you go.

So we decided to walk over to Rue Cler. And even the walk from where we stood to view the tower is just gorgeous because it's in our sight the whole time. We're kind of walking around. All these people are having picnics and there's kids playing, and it's just beautiful. It's like what you would see in the movies.

And then when you think it can't get better, oh it does over at ole Rue Cler. So this is a street, I would call it The Street of Dreams, really. It's just shop after shop of chocolates and bread and cheese shops and wine shops and… (do you see where I'm going with this?)

Yeah. It's amazing, because basically all of those things are my favorite things in the idea. Or at least our idea is that you collect things in the shops and then you walk back over to the park right there at the base of the Eiffel Tower and you have a picnic. We decided… (I mean, we're in Paris. It's our last day. Really. More is more)

So we just decided we would collect all of those things and then also go to one of the many cafes on Rue Cler and basically order exactly what we just purchased. But then we could have what we purchased for later when we're packing. So smart, right? So smart. Also, the whole week, my goddaughter Bianca, who was with us, and I had been noticing, you know, the cafes in Paris, people sit outside even when it's chilly and they have the heaters, but all the chairs are facing out.

And so we were talking about how the cafes are really just a way to judge people or at least appeals that way. When you're walking past the cafe and there's like 30 people lined up shoulder to shoulder, sipping wine and judging. You are just watching people watching. Anyway, we wanted to have our turn before we left that miraculous city.

So, we're walking with all of our bags of goodies and just continuing down the street. And even without the food, it just felt amazing. One of the blessings I saw in traveling last week was with my girls who just turned 12 and just opening up the world for them. I've learned in life, and I've talked about it here some, about the perspective that life brings and how unfortunately dangerous life becomes when your world is really small.

Does that mean you need a passport? No. Does that mean you need to go to Europe for spring break on occasion? No. Your world becoming small is absolutely a mindset can be and absolutely can happen no matter where your feet are. That said, traveling and seeing other people and how they live and what's important to them can only help to make your world bigger. And I want that for my kids. Passport or not.

So walking down the street and it's hustling and bustling and it's about maybe five, five-thirty. And what we noticed as we were walking over to this area where all the school kids getting out, being this mess, so they must get out of school at four or something over there.

So there were a lot of parents with kids. It looked like they were, you know, stopping by the street to pick up supplies for dinner that evening. And it just was an amazing feeling to be definitely not in a touristy area, just walking along with everyone who was living their daily life that day and doing what they normally do on a Friday afternoon.

At one point we had just come out of a shop and again just strolling along trying to decide which cafe to pop into, and I am stopped in my tracks by a blood curdling scream from a little kid. There's nothing like it. It makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. It's (you all know the scream I'm talking about, whether you're a mom or not.)

If you're a mom, you might recognize it differently in knowing that it was a panicked scream. Brandon and I used to tease… (side note when our girls were little and they'd be in the other room playing or whatever, and they would start to cry. The big kids observed that sometimes we would jump to the cry, and other times it would be like, we don't even hear it.

And we would tell them, Oh, well, that's because there's all different types of cries, right? There's the I'm tired cry. I'm not cry. There's the cry of injustice, which you hear a lot when there are siblings involved, namely twins. There's the hurt cry. I'm scared, cry. And you get to know the cries.)

So this cry on Rue Cler around five in the evening was a panic cry, and Bianca and I dart our eyes to each other. We look down the girls are with us, Brandon's with us, and we look to the street. And this street, the portion that we were on did not have cars. It's just pedestrians. So in the middle of the street is this little kid and oh goodness, she must have been five..six? If I had to guess, adorable little Parisian kid, whatever you're imagining in your mind right now, you're actually right.

Cute little hat, cute little outfit, buttoned up cardigan, little brown Mary Jane type shoes, Navy pants. I think her cardigan was white. She had these brown kind of curls coming out of her hat and she was screaming, “ma-mom, ma-mom”. Which again, I'm sure had butchered, but just what the little ones call their mom. And looking all around, eyes darting everywhere.

And my stomach sank. And so I'm looking around thinking the mom has to be really close. Right? The shops are all around. There's people, but it's not wall to wall people. It's people moving about. I mean, you can easily see up and down the street and through the people. So we're looking around thinking any minute now this mom is going to appear. Right? She just was paying and took a little long and the little one wandered off.

But no, she she didn't. So I start walking slowly, just one step-two step towards that direction. And before I even get into the street, this little one is swarmed with what appears to be a grandmother, a mom, and then you see another woman come up and another woman come up and they kind of make this circle around this little one.

And as much that mom, that savior of little ones wanted to keep walking, I realized, number one, it was handled. You get a mom, an auntie and a grandmother, they're going to take care of it. And number two, there would be a major language barrier. And probably the last thing a little one who is scared and alone needs is some woman who doesn't speak her language.

But I couldn't stop watching. I was so worried and so ohhh, and also just so in awe of these people who had surrounded this little one. You see them talking to her, the grandmother type person puts her arm around her and just draws her in to her dress just as if it were her own, just hugging her in and I can tell because some things don't require translation-that she's telling her that it's okay, they're going to figure it out. She is safe. She is going to be fine.

One of the women takes out her phone - is obviously calling the police while the others are scanning around, loving her, reassuring her, and asking good questions, asking the right questions. Do you remember what color her shirt was? I got that much. Do you remember where you were last?

All the while, never letting go of the little one. Now, I didn't stick around for the resolution. If I'm being honest, partially because we couldn’t watch anymore. It was heartbreaking. And also because I do think it was going to be all right. They were going to make sure that it was going to be all right. So we find our cafe, we sit down in our chairs, facing the streets in our very appropriate Parisian judging stance.

Actually, I want you all to know that everyone we encountered there was so incredibly nice. I've heard the stereotypes my whole life too, but they were just wonderful. We had a wonderful experience. We did enjoy the people watching at the cafe, though. But as I was sitting there with my family, I was thinking about the way that they embraced that little one.

How in that moment nothing else mattered to them, just the fact that they ran over and rallied around her, and also the way in which they rallied around her. They asked good questions, but only the ones super necessary and helpful at that moment. Never once did any of those women scold her. Look down on her. There was no why weren't you with your mom? Why did you walk away? How did you lose her?

Everything about their face and their transactions were loving in an attempt to make that little girl understand that she was safe and that it was going to be okay. And it made me think about situations not just with kids, but with anyone. I think we're so much more grace-filled and grace-giving to kids because a lot of times they shouldn't know better yet (sometimes they should, we think.)

But even then, that's not helpful in the moment, is it? When someone comes to us and they are in a panic, maybe it was their fault, maybe it wasn't. What's our first kneejerk reaction? Is it to ask good only necessary questions like “How can I help you right now?” Or is it pointing a finger? “What did you think was going to happen?” “Of course you're in this situation.”

Now listen, there's a time and place for all of that. I have five kids you guys. There are some tough love moments, but there are also a lot of moments when we just need help, when we just need reminded that there's not ever one thing that is the end of the world. Life is a series of seasons.

Life is a series of so many moments and in that moment of panic, can we just pull them in close and just say you are loved, you are safe, we will figure this out, and maybe save the lecture for later, if ever? What about with ourselves? When we start to panic, and we just beat ourselves up? “Well, of course I'm in this situation.” “What did I think was going to happen?”

What if instead we just said, you know, I'm going to give myself a moment, I'm going to let myself have this little breakdown, I'm going to breathe through it and remind myself that I am safe and I am loved and that most things are figureoutable (that's a word.)

And I'm going to ask myself the right and only the necessary questions at that moment. Those women had no idea what they were going to encounter that day at Rue Cler. I'm sure they were all really busy picking up their groceries for the evening. They had no idea that there was a little girl there that would be just waiting for them, just waiting for them to support her and hold her hand.

Let's love first and tackle the heart question second.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you allow yourself to feel the things today and then have the courage to ask. But what if it looks like this? Go forth and show up for life? My friends, someone is just waiting for you.