Avignon by Way of the Camino de Santiago. Or Avignon by the Way of the Way of Saint James. Either way, you’ve annoyed Shirley MacLaine.
Years ago Shirley MacLaine was interviewed about her pilgrimage along Spain’s Camino de Santiago. The interviewer (possibly Oprah? hard to say when one isn’t inclined to do the three seconds of research required to find the answer) asked if she hadn’t ever been uneasy walking alone through the mountains of Spain. MacLaine dismissed the question. “That’s your trip,” she said.
LuAnne wants me to move to Avignon. It’s an awesome small city, and we got lost in it early and often. But Avignon probably isn’t my small city. It’s her small city. Moving to Avignon? That’s LuAnne’s trip.
Carolyn: I don’t want to move to Avignon. You should move to Avignon.
LuAnne: But I want you to move to Avignon. Then I can visit you there. Wouldn’t that be perfect?
Carolyn: Perfect for whom?
This exchange reminds me of my favorite tee shirt idea — Live Vicariously. Seriously, shouldn’t that be printed on the front of a shirt? Cracks me up.
But I digress. Where would I like to live? Paris, maybe. London for sure. A larger city, I think. A vacation home in Avignon would be sweet, but I don’t see myself owning multiple properties anytime soon.
In short, I want to live someplace I can work. I’m not good at being a tourist. Avignon is lovely, but will I get work done there? My dream is to spend a month in an Italian villa, but if I lived in one year-round what would I do? How would I spend my time? Would I work on my fiction?
My work — my writing — is important to me. That’s my trip.
