“La plus belle ville du monde.” —Gusteau

I was 11 years old the first time I saw the Pixar film “Ratatouille”. I guess you could say that’s when my desire to live in Paris really solidified, though watching Audrey Hepburn films set in Paris certainly helped. I saw it in theaters in Tacoma with my siblings, and I remember leaving with stars in my eyes, DYING to get home to my then sick dad to tell him about it. I told him about how the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge was almost finished, and how we’d soon drive over it and see this amazing movie together, and that one day I would live in Paris. He just had to get better first. Little did I know that a week and change later, he would be gone. A funeral was had, and the proceeding day the bridge opened. Of course. 

Fast forward through a few ugly years of figuring things out, to last weekend: I attended the premiere of Ratatouille in concert, playing on screen as the Paris Symphony Orchestra played the film scores beneath it. It was held in the largest theatre in Europe, right here in the heart of Paris, France; my home. I just about burst out of my seat when they announced that Michael Giacchino (the genius composer) and the wife of John Lasseter (who is married to another top genius in Pixar Studios) were just rows in front of me in the audience. I had a stupid grin on my face from there on out, that I just wish I could call my dad and tell him about. Tell him that I did it, I pursued my dream and live here [in “La plus belle ville du monde/The most beautiful city in the world.”] just like I said I would. Mais, c'est la vie. Watching Ratatouille here and now [and in French!] is surreal. In previous viewed times it was accompanied by an aching in my gut; a longing to be here. And now, I'm here! Seeing views of the golden Eiffel Tower as I walk home. C'est merveilleux.