Spring in Amsterdam brings the tulips. Big luscious tulips that illuminate the city and breathes life into a community that has just awakened from a winter soon long forgotten. This is the city that Joy and I discovered as we paraded around town on our first day after our arrival. The smell of marijuana permeated the air and as I looked around I saw a city that seemed exceptionally at peace with itself. All of the things that many of us seem to suffer from, guilt and shame, prejudice and discontent, angst and ambition—they all appeared to be noticeable absent from this fraternal twin of [...]

The flight from DFW to Paris flew by. Before Joy and I even knew it we had touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport to start our journey across Europe. We were so excited about our upcoming trip that we were five hours into our flight before we stopped talking and then realized when we arrived in Paris it would be 9:30 am and neither of us would have slept in 30 hours. We tried to fall asleep for a couple of hours before we landed but had only drifted off maybe 45 minutes when the wheels hitting the pavement literally jolted us awake. We landed [...]

Scott is drunk. How do I know? He told us so. We met Scott in the Admiral’s Club at DFW as my friend Joy and I awaited our flight to Paris to celebrate her 29th birthday. Scott must have sensed our enthusiasm about going to Paris because as soon Joy and I entered what we thought was our private nook in the club to talk about our upcoming trip soon became a party for three, with Scott as the lead host. “I just flew in from South America and now I have a 12-hour layover. I am pretty drunk, I have been sitting here for [...]

I remember my first trip to Paris well. I was in the midst of probably my greatest personal crisis as an adult. I had been hopelessly lost for years trying to live a life that simply wasn’t mine. It was a life that society always told me that I should desire and no matter how hard I tried I realized it just didn’t align with my authenticity. I was going through a divorce and the ironic part about all of it was no one was really to blame. We had simply grown apart. No one was to blame life had just offered an alternative path [...]

From the heart of the Secret Blue Butterfly THEGEMGYPSY: Hi, Sb2, I have a question. I guess it’s kinda like a life question. You seem like a wonderful person so I decided to come to you for your wisdom, plus to be honest, I don’t really have a lot of friends these days. I am the type of person who always wants to help others (thus, wanting to be a part of your beautiful message). Well, recently I have felt taken advantage of, well not appreciated. I am always helping my family with my time and the minute I need a favor I hear [...]