when i was living in france, but not in paris, my host father took a trip to paris. he asked all of his kids if they wanted anything, and i told him i wanted the eiffel tower.

when he came back four days later, he tossed a little package at me: a keychain with the eiffel tower on it.

that eiffel tower has been on my keys ever since (ten years!!), which means it helped open the following homes:

- three different host family houses
- my dorm room
- one of the calvin apartments
- my parents' house
- the apartments behind christian high
- three separate apartments in champaign, illinois
- two different new york apartments

(that's a lot of moving! no wonder they hadn't been able to find me for jury duty!!)

over the years, the poor tower has shown some wear - it lost two of its legs and were i to stand it up, would look more like the leaning tower of eiffel. (fred found these legs and promptly hunted them till they disappeared into the corners of the apartment)

then, a few days ago, when i lifted my keys out of the bowl, the eiffel tower did not come with them.

it's the end of an era.