We went back to the hotel, quickly showered, and set off for dinner at a traditional French restaurant that Lily picked. I wore a dress I had purchased last November in London at Fat Face. I wore tights, my black shoes and felt fancy. Then I saw Lily.

It is truly overwhelming when I look at my grown children. My handsome, 6 ft 3 son who towers over me, my beautiful girl, my brown-eyed gift who looks just like his daddy. Lily had taken time with her appearance for her birthday dinner. She wore a beautiful navy silk shift, her new black coat, and boots. She is an astoundingly beautiful woman. How can it be nineteen years ago that I first held that sweet red-headed baby?

Anyway, I immediately felt underdressed as one would if you were going out with Claudia Schiffer. Lily had picked a tiny restaurant not far from our hotel. We hobbled there on sore feet. The restaurant was tiny, warm and smelled strongly of cheese. We had a choice between fondue entrees or traditional French dishes like escargot, duck and steak. I had beef bourguignon and Lily had cheese fondue. We found that sharing our dishes and dipping my meat in her cheese was the best of both worlds. We cared less about the cheesy smell once we were eating it.

After dinner, Lily suggested we head down to the Eiffel Tower. Three years ago we had visited on our trip with Matthew and Parker. The light show at night is gorgeous and it was so fun sitting out on the grass watching people picnic, drink champagne and take photos. It was a little colder this time, but no less special. We timed it to see the sparkling light show when we arrived. I resumed my role as photographer and tried to capture the birthday girl in her glory.

After we had wandered around the tower, we taxied back up to a cafe near our hotel. We shared an ice cream sundae and some delicious drinks. It had been a beautiful day in the City of Lights.