What if your parents banned the purchasing of sweets and instead only allowed you to have sweets if you could make them. Would you find yourself making tiramisu? Making dollhouses of toffee? Construct colosseums from fudge?

Walk into a grocery store. Proclaim “Bonjour” in a way that will surely identify you as a foreigner, unintentionally, of course. Get some meat—prosciutto, bologna, salami. Get some cheese, freshly cut from the deli; you’re in France, after all. Get a fresh loaf of bread. Grab an apple and a banana on your way out….

Napoleonic Code: Everything is illegal unless made legal. Common Law: Everything is legal unless specifically identified as illegal. The two types of law don’t mix well but each have their merit for establishing justice. The U. S. functions on the basis of Common Law, which originated from England in the Middle Ages.

Cutting away at the string that connects them to health. A daily separation. A fissure that gets bigger with each puff.

Engaging in the details and realizing it’s just logic, a practice in thinking. Relaxing enough to let down the facade. Sharing the things that delight you.