Il était une fois....

Once upon a time... 

I grew out of believing in fairy tales. Scout and I moved in with my parents after my fairy tale ended. My faith slipped away as we sat on the carpet of my childhood room. Scout was full of excitement and promise. She had just started Kindergarten and wanted to tell me everything. We took time every night to read and just talk about our day together. 

Starting over was not easy. My heart ached as I fought my sadness but kept up my spirits for Scout. Our talks at the end of the day was a way for us to connect and enjoy each other's company. Earlier in the day, I felt like I would never feel hopeful or happy. It followed me all day and I wanted to shake that feeling. There had to be a way for me to find hope, to feel excitement...to fill my heart again. When I got back, Scout and I took our places on the carpet and chatted away. I knew there had to be something to look forward to so I asked Scout, "Where do you want to go when you graduate from high school? Pick something so crazy that it would be amazing when we make it!".

She said,"Paris. I want to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris."

I told her, "Let's get crazier. Let's go for New Year's Eve. We'll celebrate in Paris for New Year's Eve. You'll be in college and we can go wherever we want!". 

The plan for Our Little Trip was born. 

At that time (and many times in between), I had no idea how we were going to get there, but I knew that we were going to get there somehow. It was a goal that was so far away, but we talked about it every year: what we were going to see, what we'd wear, how fun it would be. We would go to the bookstore and camp out for hours over our warm beverages (she had cocoa and I had coffee) and mound of books. Really.. who am I kidding, this was a weekly visit to the bookstore, but once a year, we'd have books about Paris. 

Scout and I had many adventures near and far. Sometimes we were together. Sometimes we were apart when she was visiting her father. In all of those times, she knew that she was always my first choice. I was fortunate enough to get to Paris a few years back, but without Scout.

On this day, the morning we leave for our epic trip, I am a ball of so many emotions. I've been stressed out, angry, happy, grateful, sad, amazed and just...overwhelmed. I knew that this day would eventually come and these feelings would manifest themselves in too many random ways.

Currently, my warm blanket has been the way I've tried to hide myself from the inevitable: my little girl is no longer little. The Kindergarten innocence that once blinked its wide, brown eyes at me has been replaced with an 18 year old, college freshman who enjoys sleeping and watching movies. 

I'm packed and ready to go,  but knowing this trip is coming means... this is it. 

This. Is. It. 

Every moment of our planning is coming to this.  

Wings up,  friends.  Scout and I are ready to fly! 

Xoxo

Emma

We're Back With a Vengeance!

Welcome readers... AGAIN to the new and improved Library Girls Travel Blog. When we last left off, your favorite blogesses, Lizzie and Emma stopped writing about 5 years ago. 

It's a lapse we'd rather not repeat. For this, we apologize and will try to do better by you, our loyal readers. 

Starting again is difficult after a half decade hiatus, but rest assured, we'll be back with gusto and planning ANOTHER trip to Europe. The apple is not falling far from our travel tree as we will, once again, be visiting the metropolitan cities of London and Paris. This time, we will be travelling with Taylor and (the new adult person) Scout! 

This trip has been a long time in the planning. Scout, as a wee Kindergarten lass, and I were in a low place. We had moved to a smaller place together and were not in any financial position to do anything but dream of bigger things. In our many chats, I asked Scout to give me a dream for her Senior Trip; a dream SO big that when we achieved it, it would be epic. She said, "I want us to go to Paris together.".

Paris: a place that I had dreamed about for so long that the mere thought of it made my heart flutter. 

Paris: the magnificent city where I could use my toddler-status French language that I studied in high school. 

Paris: a destination so far away that the THOUGHT of going made my wallet weep dusty tears.

Paris: a 13 year time period to shoot for the goal to make Scout's dream a reality. 

As you all know, I made it to Paris without Scout in 2009 as an addition to mine and Lizzie's trip to London. I asked permission from Scout and she said I was forbidden to do one thing and I was to wait until we were together: Go to Disneyland Paris, so I didn't. I spent my solo time wandering the Père Lachaise cemetery and getting lost in the haute couture underbelly of Paris (no seriously... I didn't want to be there because I didn't belong there !). 

There's a quote that has stayed with me for a long time. I heard it many years ago before my own trip to Paris. Gwyneth Paltrow had recounted her first trip to Paris with her father when she was 11 years old. Her father had said to her,  "I wanted your first trip to Paris to be with the one man who is going to love you for the rest of your life." 

This is what I'll say to Scout when it's a quiet time in Paris, "I wanted your first trip to Paris to be with me, the mother who has loved you since the day you were born and will continue to love you for the rest of your life."

Over all of the challenges in our lives, we'll always have each other. With everything against us, we will have made it to our destination together. I look forward to that day and I can't wait to share it with her and all of you. 

xoxo
Emma 

The Resurrection

We are incredibly sorry.  

Really sorry.

It's been way too long.

We'll  do better,  I promise! 

We have a trip that's brewing and we want to share our experiences planning and on our adventure. 

Welcome back, dear readers!

Adventure is out there!!

Xoxo

Emma