Karolyn Denson Landrieux
Bio
Karolyn lives in Paris and Pittsburgh. She loves travel and has travelled most of the world, she enjoys time at home with family. Whether it's cooking, painting, designing or writing, creativity is her passion. @karolynd88 @maxineandbeanie
Stories (39)
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A Little Black Book
A Little Black Book The sledgehammer broke through the final panel of drywall sending bits of plaster and concrete flying. Lani removed her safety goggles to take a break before finishing for the evening. She gingerly picked her way across the hardwood floor trying to avoid debris. Picking up her water canister she took a deep drink of the still chilled water. Demolition was a tough process but she was used to it. Renovations were a part of her interior design business in New York. This, however, was a daunting project. Revamping a two hundred and twenty year old apartment was by far her biggest challenge. She knew that she was fortunate to have inherited this astonishing place from her grandmother. The location of the apartment in the Marais was perfect. She and her grandmother had always shared a special bond and much of the same taste. The apartment had been redone in nineteen ninety eight. It was overdue for an update. Lani felt obligated to preserve her grandmother's legacy.
By Karolyn Denson Landrieux5 years ago in Humans
How did I get here anyway
How did I get here anyway? My journey to a life on Paris. Am I perfect? Ummm no I am not. Not even close. I’ve done the best that I can though . I was on my own for as long as I can remember. I went away to boarding school at 13. I had no real home after that. Whenever I returned I was given the sofa or sometimes I slept in the closet. There was no room for me. That’s why home is everything to me now. I had to build one. I lost my support when my grandmother died when I was 18. She was my salvation for as long as I could remember. She called me Lady. She saved me from my mother because at that time in our lives she didn’t love me. I don’t think that she could. She was too busy being lost herself. She didn’t have the capacity to love me and my brother. So she chose my brother. My grandmother saved me from my father. He didn’t love me either. Probably because he chose not to acknowledge my existence. He too was trying to find his place in the world. Having children when you’re still a child yourself is never easy. It was easier for them to pretend I wasn’t there at all. Thank heavens for my grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her or alone. I learned to enjoy being with myself. Do not get me wrong. I still love both my parents. My story isn’t much different in that way because that was just how it was back then. My grandmother often said laid by the buzzard and hatched by the sun. That was pretty much all of the people in our neighborhood. That was the 60s. My escape was reading, sewing and art. I was often scolded for day dreaming. Escaping into my mind was necessary. It was a much simpler time but it wasn’t easy for little girls. Not at all.
By Karolyn Denson Landrieux5 years ago in Motivation


