The Beauty of Imperfection

In 1989 my husband Bill and I moved to a small town in France called La Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, a suburb southeast of Paris. Before leaving the States, Bill gifted me with a Nikon N2020 35mm film camera. We moved into a lovely home, three houses up from the Marne River that flows nearby. I loaded up my backpack with water, lots of film, and the desire to explore our new location. I spent hours in my darkroom developing my photos while Chewy, our cat, waited outside the door. Living in France was truly magical. The things those old buildings have seen and heard. Too bad they can't talk. Getting lost was typically unfortunate for anyone but not for me in Paris. I wandered endlessly and stumbled upon something new every time. Maybe because I knew this was not our permanent home, it made every day much more special. A feeling of awe would wash over me as I walked down an alleyway or some random cobblestone street as I let my mind wander and imagined some of the greatest minds ever had walke