The teargas had us coughing and crying. Our path was sprinkled with protesters about to engage in a streetfight. When we finally put some distance between us and the angry mob, the fresh air of the empty park was a very good reason to smile. Still, we did not linger, we wanted to feel the city’s pavement and cobblestones beneath our feet.
This weekend my family and quite a few friends of my family joined us for an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. There was everything: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and so on. Don’t even get me started on dessert, my dad made German Prasselkuchen, Italian Panforte di Siena, French riz au lait, my sister made a lovely New York Cheesecake and S. made a Grapefruit terrine…
Due to Thanksgiving not being celebrated in France (black Friday just made it’s debut this year), we meet on Friday evening. We had many laughs and smiles together. my best friend came with her 4-month-old baby, what a joy. And then there was the nicest dog in the world attending too.
On Saturday, we traditionally go for a walk trough the city. This year the “Gilets Jaunes” or yellow vests made us change plans quite a few times (when you end up breathing in tear gas in your neighbourhood, not in our street but where I go to the supermarket, buy sports equipment etc.).
Imagine the surprise! After the tear gas and then having run from violent protesters about to fight riot police (they weren’t part of the so-called black-block, they were quite normal upset people) a kind gentleman approached my grandfather’s partner and held out a rose. We were walking through a market, so naturally, she thought he wanted to sell her the rose.
She shook her head.
He nodded, and said in English when he realised that she didn’t understand his French “I think you will appreciate this rose”.
He then added, patting his other roses wrapped in brown paper, “that’s what flowers are for, to be given”.
When I heard his words, I had to smile. He had saved the day for me. My anger against the protesters was still there (and still is present) but he took my mind of the lung-burning cloud.
There are many other smiles that I could have written about, such as that I am so happy that already a few people have decided to join in this year’s advent calendar (intrigued?). But I am still looking for some more participants. Anyone wants to do 2 posts with one for this Sunday let me know!
This post is written for the Weekly Smile and event hosted by my dear blogging friend Trent. You can find his post here as well as the other participants posts.
Solveig Werner 
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