Our Lock and Key

I can't post the piece about Pont des Arts without recalling the special love lock we left on the bridge as well...



Each of our kids came home from their high school French trips with a story of visiting the Pont des Arts, so we knew the tradition of locks and keys before going to Paris last fall.  As we packed, our daughter reminded us not to forget a lock of our own.  My husband added this to his to-do list, and I didn't give it another thought.

The morning of our excursion to the bridge, he tapped his inside coat pocket and told us he was all set.  It wasn't until we were ready to lock it in place that I actually saw what he had brought...a well used, chunky Sears Craftsman lock.

I had to laugh at it there among the ornate and fancier locks.  Our lock fairly screams American.  It may not be pretty, but it is sturdy and it comes with a lifetime guarantee.  Turns out my engineer is a bit of a poet in his own way.

Can you find the Craftsman?  Look at the smaller of the two red hearts and then the large black heart on the right.  Along the same horizontal line almost perfectly centered between the two is our lock.  Or find Luke and Imogene in the center of the photo (as opposed to Luke and Nell slightly right of center.  Oh, Luke, you scoundrel!).  Look above them to the aqua colored lock.  We are left of the aqua one.  Our lock sits at a jaunty angle with its keyhole bottom showing towards the camera.  The black Craftsman band can also be seen.

The whole experience was one of my favorite memories of the trip and was made even more magical by the musical stylings of this man and his accordion.  

Originally published February 18, 2014