A story of tenacity
I am unable to go with out mentioning my third favourite squeaky wheel: Marie Marvingt. In 1908, she tried to register for the Tour de France, “Impossible,” the officers instructed her. After all, she was a girl. But Marvingt endured, defiantly biking every stage incognito and changing into the first spouse to finish the gruelling two-week competitors. Always forward of the curve, Marvingt was additionally a balloonist, mountaineer and aviator. At 80, she discovered to fly a helicopter. To have fun her 86th birthday, she biked 280km from Paris to Nancy.
Heroes do not at all times put on capes. Sometimes they rock the world with lions, tigers, bikes and powder puffs as a substitute. As I stand gazing out on this subject of heartfelt gestures, surrounded by all these stone testaments to brave fur-faced feats, I’m wondering, the place is my very own pluck? But Marguerite Durand started right here. And so, too, will I. Inspired by Marguerite and the numerous others who adopted her, I’ll discover my voice.
Theadora Brack has lived in Paris since 2003 and is the creator of the peopleplacesandbling.com weblog.
From France Today Magazine
My Life in Paris: Three Inspirational Women to Brighten Dark Times