Talking with a friend in Paris before I left, he said, “TEXAS?!? You’re moving from PARIS to TEXAS!?!”
And I said Yes.
And he said But why?!
“There are the reasons that I tell and then there’s a girl.”
“Some girl?”
And I said that no, not just some girl and he said that he would never give up a city like this for some girl. And I asked What would you give up? And he said his car.
“You don’t have a car,” I said.
Before I left, I had to write letters to cancel my cell phone and my metro card. I quit three jobs, threw away 30 pounds of stuff to fit into bags and took a plane across an ocean. And after a while, after a few frustrations, after a few too many last coffees, I lost track of the reasons. A decision was made and I was just following through. Callused, I’d call it.
“That or TV,” he said.
“You don’t watch TV.”
And then I thought What would I give up for love? My books? Those can go. My ability to read? There’s a tough one. Tea? Even tougher. Okay, well… But a city, even a Paris of a city, I’ll just say that I’ve begun practicing my y’alls.
