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Jardin du Luxembourg

When I was eleven we had a family friend called Uncle Joe.
I’m still not sure how he came to be in our lives, but he’d become a permanent fixture there for a brief moment.
I do recall that he was a commercial fisherman on business from Tenerife.
Before living in Tenerife, he’d lived all over in places like Nicaragua, Congo, Vietnam, and Cuba.
Uncle Joe had an air of mystery to him, rumours where he’d spent time in prison.
There were also rumours that he might have been a mercenary once.

Pretty Jardin

Palais

He’d give my brother Joe karate lessons.
He talked in great detail of his adventures; the places, the people and the escapades.
I had a bit of a crush on Uncle Joe; I found him worldly and fearless – and imagined him doing all these amazing things.
He was by far the most fascinating person I’d ever known.
Before he left, he invited my mom, and my brother Joe and I to spend the summer at his home in Tenerife, but my mom said no, and that we were going to visit her uncle in Makeni (really, Ma?).

24 Sep 5

Fountain

I cried when he came to say goodbye (What? He was awesome!).
And then he promised that one day, when I was older, he’d come back and take me to Paris
We’d picnic in the magnificent Jardin du Luxembourg; he said, we’d drink wine and snack on cheese and pastries.
We’d walk the spectacular gardens, smell fragrant flowers and gaze on beautiful fountains and ornate sculptures and statues
We never did have that picnic, Uncle Joe and I.
I did not see him again after that goodbye.

Serene

Lined Fontaine Medicis

One sunny day in September last year I finally made it to Jardin du Luxembourg, and I had a picnic.
It was indeed magnificent, and I thought about Uncle Joe for the first time in a long while.
I thought about my older self now; innocence lost in a garden almost as magical as I’d imagined as a child.
It’s one of my favourite places; colourful, well-manicured, beautiful, intricate and full of culture and history.

24 Sep 1

Fountain

Luxembourg Palace

I spent a whole afternoon here, I could have stayed longer, it’s magical – there are so many perfect elements to this park.
Contemplation, people-watching, and soaking up the sun.
The kind of peaceful-nothingness that recharges the soul, and fills you with gratitude.
It’s often rare, nearly impossible to get to that place from a promise, and still feel such serenity.

Woman 24 Sep 2

Path

Looking On

Luxembourg Palace

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