Giving Thanks, Day 19: Picnics

As a gift for one of our early wedding anniversaries, long, long ago, Greg gave me a picnic backpack. It's the coolest thing: it has a place setting for two, complete with real silverware and linens, a cheese knife and cutting board, an insulated section to keep your food cold, and even a padded wine bottle holder. We used it just a couple of times early in our marriage, but as the years went on, we found less and less opportunities for it. It gathered dust in our attic for a few years, and then I even tried to sell it in garage sales -- more than once. For whatever reason, though, nobody ever bought it.

The backpack didn't make the "cut" for the list of things to bring to France. At the last minute, we added one more odd-sized box on our pallet for a few of Lori's things, and we had some extra room. So the backpack became somewhat of a stowaway and made the long voyage across the Atlantic.

Somehow in the back of my subconscious I knew that the picnic backpack would resurrect itself in France. This evening Greg and I took advantage of a clear, warm night and dusted off the picnic backpack. We went to our little corner grocery store and loaded up on brie, salami, taboule, and a bottle of Bordeaux. Then we went to the bakery across the way and got a whole grain baguette and a pastry for dessert. Ten minutes later, we were picnicking on the quai of the Rhone River, with a fantastic view of Hotel Dieu against a backdrop of a gorgeous sunset.

The view from our picnic spot tonight

Tonight, I'm thankful for a wonderful evening, thanks to the fact that nobody bothered to buy that picnic backpack at any of our garage sales.