Litmus test

On Sunday, I returned from a blissful day-and-a-half with Russell in Nashville. We walked around downtown and discovered Printer’s Alley, which is now filled with strip clubs (apparently the publishing industry is doing worse than I thought). But we also had a wonderful steak dinner, and Russ salivated over the good-quality beef.
I’m glad we were able to have the time together between these months we’re apart before he returns to Texas at the end of May.

Printer's Alley in Nashville, aka stripper's alley

Last week I started reading Julia Child’s autobiography, My Life in France. I know I’m a bit behind the trend to read it, but I think now is the perfect time for me to seek spunky Julia’s wisdom because, in some ways, we have a similar situation.
Julia left California to travel across the ocean (not by plane, but ship – yikes!) with her husband Paul, who accepted a job with the United States Information Service in France. Julia said she could have stayed in California and married a banker (and subsequently become a drunk like her friends – ha). Instead, she chose Paul, describing him as a “painter, photographer, poet, and mid-level diplomat who had taken me to live in dirty, dreaded France. I couldn’t have been happier!”
And if Julia hadn’t chosen to go to France, there’s a good chance she wouldn’t have found her own passion – a love of food. I hope to discover my own passions while in Sweden, whether that is a continuation of my current interests and/or something else completely. This has occupied many of my thoughts lately, and while I’m doing my best to wait on the unknown, it isn’t always easy being in a state of transition between career choices and personal pursuits, relationship status and country of residence.
However, Julia wrote something that speaks true to our situation in many respects, and it gives me comfort:
“Travel, we agreed, was a litmus test: If we could make the best of the chaos and serendipity we’d inevitably meet in transit, then we’d surely be able to sail through the rest of life together just fine. So far, we’d done pretty well.”