My (Part-Time) Paris Life by Lisa Anselmo

Anne with Heather at an apéro on the banks of the Seine in 2019.Įven after I learned about the lockdown in France, I couldn’t bring myself to cancel my March 29 flight to Paris. It never occurred to me then I would be sitting at my desk eight months later while my apartment in Paris gathered dust, the curtains drawn, and small critters taking up residence in my absence. We decided not to attend the Sarasota Jazz Festival scheduled for March 8, despite the fantastic line-up. Petersburg, canceled our weekly rehearsals (in hindsight, a smart move). Jon Arterton, the Musical Director of The One City Chorus in St. Next, the Council on Aging canceled my Tai Chi. The dire prognostications making late-night talk shows began to sink in when I stood in front of the empty toilet paper shelves. As I recall, no one at the crowded market was wearing a mask, myself included. I made a trip to the supermarket to stock up, just in case. We didn’t feel especially old and certainly didn’t want to hear we were vulnerable to this disease, news we saw then as a pinch of age discrimination.

When we met neighbors on the street, many retired and over 65 like us, we laughed together about the label, “old.” What a joke. News about coronavirus began to appear on our radar screen in February, soon after we arrived in Florida. Four months away from Paris and friends seemed an eternity, but Florida’s warm weather, time with Dennis, and our funky cottage in the art community of Gulfport beckoned. When I left Paris in November 2019, I didn’t expect to be able to return to my studio apartment until March. Secrets of Paris contributor Anne Daignault writes about what it has been like in lockdown stuck in Florida while her beloved Paris apartment remains empty and she misses her friends in France.

My (Part-Time) Paris Life by Lisa Anselmo