The Moments That Shape Us

Goodmorning my loves,

I knew this morning is the morning was the morning I’m bringing Poured With Love weekly back after a little break and let me tell you, I woke up GIDDY and way before my alarm. I jumped out of bed to get writing. It always amazes me, how habits can become joy and excitment, especially when you take a break from them (!). So here I am with my ginger tea, coming back to this Monday morning writing ritual.

We had a magical time. Europe in the summer is truly my favorite place to be. Raúl and I got to spend some time the two of us before joining my family.

We spent time in Amsterdam, a place I went to back in college for a very different kind of trip. We loved biking everywhere, strolling along the canals, and immersing ourselves with culture.

“When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived.” - Anne frank on 5 April 1944

Experiencing the Anne Frank House was probably the most moving part of our trip. Of course, I knew Anne’s story. I knew she had gone into hiding with her family, and I knew about the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II.

But what I didn’t know was the story behind her writing — and how, at just 14 years old, she began to understand that her words might have a purpose beyond herself.

What struck me most were all the synchronicities that seemed to weave her words toward their eventual purpose.

On her 13th birthday, just a few weeks before her family went into hiding, Anne received a diary as a birthday gift. She began writing in it almost immediately, documenting her thoughts, feelings, relationships, fears, and the world changing around her.

At the time, she was simply writing for herself. She couldn’t have known what those pages would eventually become.

While living in hiding in the Secret Annex, Anne and her family secretly listened to radio broadcasts from London.

One evening, they heard a speech from the Dutch government in exile calling on ordinary people to preserve their diaries, letters, and other personal accounts of life under Nazi occupation so they could one day help tell the story of what had happened.

Something shifted for Anne. Until then, her diary had been personal. But suddenly, she could see that her writing might serve a greater purpose, that her words could become part of the historical record.

She began going back through her diary, rewriting and editing earlier entries on loose sheets of paper with the intention of one day publishing them.

After Anne and the others in the Secret Annex were arrested, Miep Gies, one of the people who had helped hide them, found Anne’s diary and loose papers scattered in the Annex. She gathered them and kept them, intending to return them to Anne after the war.

Anne never came home.

Miep later gave the journals to Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the only member of the immediate family to survive. He read them, discovered the depth of Anne’s desire to become a writer and publish a book about her time in hiding, and ultimately helped bring her words into the world.

It helped me reflect back to the nudges and synchronicities that have happened in my life, and how so many little moments lead us to being who we are…

After Amsterdam, we spent 2 days in Deauville, Normandy (highly recommend, it’s such a cute town and a 2 hour train ride from paris). A perfect way to fully rest. We were there off to see my family and celebrate a very big anniversary for my parents: 50 years married.

My favorite day all together started with a yoga class I taught with all the ladies followed by getting on the cher river, paddle boarding and kayaking under my favorite castle: Chenonceau. It’s the first year we could all do it as the youngest grandkids turned 6, the age limit to join on this adventure.

Then we came home, got ready and continued the celebrations. We hired a photographer, the grandkids performed a show, there were speeches, laughter and tears. I felt so much gratitude to be all together, all 19 of us celebrating this very very special day!

Maybe that’s what this trip reminded me most: how much of who we are is shaped by all the little moments that lead us here. The places we’ve been, the people who have loved us, the families we come from, the conversations we happen to hear, the experiences that change us without us even realizing it at the time.

Travel always gives me the space to zoom out and see those threads a little more clearly. To remember that who I am today didn’t happen overnight. I am a collection of places, people, choices, synchronicities, and moments (many of which probably felt insignificant while I was living them).

And maybe that’s the beautiful part: we don’t always know which moments are shaping us while we’re in them.

So here’s to paying a little more attention to the ones we’re living right now.

Thanks for reading my loves!

Magali