La Vie En Rose

Back when I was a young, thoughtful traveler who liked to think about things beyond what I should cook for dinner tonight (not that there's anything wrong with that - wink, wink), I visited the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.  I'm a bit of a fan of cemeteries in general, and this is really the mother of all cemeteries. While I was there, I came across Edith Piaf's gravesite.  And, get this. La Vie En Rose was actually playing over some loud speaker.  Where was the loudspeaker?  I mean, good grief - cue the Hollywood movie scene.  In any event, I remember being slightly dissapointed at the cheesiness of it all - and slightly overwhelmed at the fabulousness of being there, the history and the beauty of that dang song.

Fast forward 11 years and I'm taking my great, stinky kids on our daily morning trip to Starbucks for coffee (or milk - depending on which Seward you are).  And, no big surprise here, La Vie En Rose is on some compilation CD that Starbucks is promoting.  Let me say that we have a routine at our corner Starbucks.  The kids get their milk from the cooler, I order my coffee (and occasionally a vanilla scone for us to share) and the kids go get a seat somewhere.  Well, they found a seat this morning - with only two chairs - and sat there by themselves, drinking milk, eating a scone and watching people as they came in and out.  Henry looked thoughtful.  Like he was trying to figure out who these people were - what they were doing on a sunny day in Seattle.  This all played out with La Vie En Rose as a backdrop. 

And it was slightly cheesy. 

And it made me happy. 

Because my (fairly melodramatic) hope is that he'll be in Paris in his early 20s.  At a famous cemetery or some not-so-famous coffee shop, watching people.  Wondering who they are and what they're doing.  What his place is in this scene.  Living in the moment. I can hardly wait for him to have those experiences and feel that kind of connection with the greater world.  He's got such a great start at being an introspective sorta guy, so perhaps it will simply be a matter of us buying him a plane ticket.  And he can find his own way - to whatever songs and places make him thoughtful.  And happy. 

Anyway.  I sure like this song.