1977 | Cynthia Newberry Martin https://www.cynthianewberrymartin.com Catching Days Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:22:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://i0.wp.com/www.cynthianewberrymartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cropped-The-Art-of-Her-Life-COVER.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 1977 | Cynthia Newberry Martin https://www.cynthianewberrymartin.com 32 32 162508627 1977: I turn 20 https://www.cynthianewberrymartin.com/2017/02/1977-i-turn-20/ https://www.cynthianewberrymartin.com/2017/02/1977-i-turn-20/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:22:12 +0000 http://catchingdays.cynthianewberrymartin.com/?p=20044 1977: I plan a three-month trip to France for the summer. I’ll spend two weeks in Alès with a French family, four weeks in Paris at the Sorbonne, and I’ll travel. I ask Davidson for funds and for credit. I get both. As night falls on the last day of exams of my sophomore year, I board a Trailways bus for Washington–I can still see that dark North Carolina night, feel the bus window cold against my cheek. In DC, I take a taxi to the airport, fly to NY, and then to Paris. I have a Eurail Pass and a red-covered Let’s Go Europe. My first night in Paris, I stay across from Notre Dame at the Hotel Esmerelda, which still exists. It’s a tiny room–I have to move a chair to close the door–and the window won’t lock. There are no cell phones, but my parents have my itinerary. From time to time, I wait at the post office to call home. When my boyfriend decides to fly over to travel with me for a few weeks, I ask him to bring me another sweater. At the end of summer, I have a week at home before heading back to school for my junior year. Somewhere along the way, my mother tells me the good guys go fast. And I believe her. On the next to the last day of the year, I voluntarily give up my freedom for love. Part Two, I hardly knew you.

40 days to 60

~

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver
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