In Memoriam

I took Sophie to the Louvre yesterday.  Liz bought me a year-long membership.  For "Young Friends of the Louvre" it cost only 35 euro!  Completely worth it.  Especially since I plan on bringing Sophie here at least once a week to explore the place a little bit at a time.  A room or two of paintings followed by an hour in the hall of statues, where she can move around, sounds like a winning formula.  

When Liz and Sophie and I first took a walk to the Louvre, I immediately started thinking about Mamacita (my grandmother who passed away almost two years ago).  She told me once that on a visit to Holland she spent three days in the Rijksmuseum alone.  She would love the opportunity to explore the Louvre one room at a time.  This sort of old world splendor and culture made her so proud and also touchingly curious.  Like her travelogues and her classical music, art had the power to transport her to another world; one where she could be truly content and entirely herself.  I feel that she is excited for all the things I'm going to see, and I know that she is proud of me and where I am.  Despite the fact that I haven't done anything important or made a name for myself or even found a job, she always reminded me that I am living a good life, and she always encouraged my adventuring.  We wrote to each other when I was in the Netherlands, at college, on my mission, and even when I was in Boston.  I would have gotten at least three letters from her in Paris by now.  I really miss that.  I really miss her.