Do Not Delay Your Dreams

While Notre Dame burned, I planned my next trip.

Photo by Linda Horton

Along with the rest of the world, I was shocked and saddened to see Notre Dame Cathedral up in flames yesterday. It seemed impossible that this could be happening — this iconic representation of art, architecture, and history was on fire, and it was spreading quickly.

I gasped, and cried. And planned my next trip.

Thankfully, I have visited Paris twice. My first trip was 3 years ago, but it was just long enough for me to know that I needed to go back. So I did, the following year, for 10 days. I toured the Cathedral properly on my second visit, along with everything else I could cram in. Even with 10 days, you can barely scratch the surface of everything there is to see in Paris.

While I watched CNN, the fire continued to spread and the burning spire collapsed. I prayed the bell towers would survive. I texted with friends, and I looked to Facebook for comfort and community. The feed was filled with news of the shocking event.

One Facebook friend added to her post “I will never see the Cathedral. Don’t delay your dreams”. Wow. Yeah.

I feel sad for those who never saw it. They will rebuild, but it probably won’t be in our lifetime. But there’s a whole world of other things to see — other places…