Love Long Distance.

This afternoon, Séb left for the airport to head back to France a week before my return. This is the last time we're saying goodbye under these long distance circumstances. Thank God because I'm over it. And even though I know it's the last time, and I do have a million things to do before going back to Europe, like every other time we say goodbye at an airport or a train station, I'm sad. 
On this cool and gloomy day, we walked down to the old train station by my mom's house that would connect him to JFK's Air Train. As the diesel train shuffled in while we were saying goodbye, I snuck in one last smooch before he escorted himself onto the train - luggage in tow. As my eyes welled up with tears, the conductor, who was looking out through the window of his control room, reopened the train doors. I looked at Séb who was still standing in the foyer of the train car, then at the conductor who said, "Go on, you guys need one more, he looks like he's got a long trip ahead of him," Ain't that the truth. Séb is flying to Madrid with an eight hour layover before his connection to Paris and will be traveling for almost 24 hours. I followed the conductor's instructions and gave Séb one last goodbye and wished him a bon voyage.
Before the train rolled out of the station, I quickly walked over to the conductor's window to thank him for giving me my total Gary Marshall RomCom moment that broke me out of my dramatic melancholy and the infinite sadness double album moment. "I miss those days," he said while looking off into the distance, "my wife passed away three years ago and I'd give anything to give her that one last kiss."
That really put things into perspective, suddenly making our one week apart futile in comparison to his three years of mourning.
Walking back from the train station, I could feel the first hints of autumn starting to creep in. Unlike Paris where I've heard it's scorching hot, summer in New York is starting it's first stages of fizzling out. With each passing day, la rentrée - a time in France when everyone is back from vacation, school starts, businesses reopen, and life goes back to normal - is becoming more and more a part of my reality. Life and getting back to the real world is starting creep back in. Ca y est!
I hope you all enjoyed your weekends and for my lovelies in Paris, I hope you're staying cool! I'm looking forward to getting back home...