Before I decided to begin a blog of my own, I spent several years following the blogs of others. One of the very first had a snappy title and a focus that appealed to me and I was hooked from the beginning.
When I found her online, Lisa Taylor Huff was 45 and taking concrete steps towards a long-held dream of moving to Paris to live and work as a writer.
She struck me as the very boldest of souls and I checked in regularly from my life in Atlanta, reading and watching as she made plans to leave New Jersey for a Paris address.
Having spent time in Paris I could easily see the appeal of the city and given that I was head over heels for the Isle of Skye in Scotland, I understood how one could dream of a different life and set out in a new direction to get it.
It wasn’t long before Lisa was in Paris and in the time it would take most people to settle in, she’d met and married Georges and made a new life she loved, adding wife and step-mother to all she already was. By then I was planning my own wedding and move to Cornwall, England having met my Brit born husband-to-be online as she had Georges.
Lisa and I exchanged an email or two as bloggers often do, and I kept on reading, following online and watching as she achieved each goal towards a fully integrated life in France.
I celebrated when she became a French citizen, understanding intimately why having a dual citizenship was important as I had added a British citizenship to my American one not quite a year earlier. I enjoyed her excitement when she voted in France for the first time remembering how connected I felt when I voted in the UK.
Based on recent comments, I, like most her readers thought her cancer would be a difficult blip and that she would be back at her desk sharing her adventures after a time. I was shocked and saddened to see death take her so quickly.
It’s as if she stepped out the door with her next blog post unfinished and there is nothing more.
I’ve been rereading her blog posts since hearing the news of her death on Monday. I cannot imagine the pain her family must be going through.
Her beloved husband, Georges wrote a tender last post to her and for her on her blog, The Bold Soul.
There is so much there that is good and I urge you to see for yourself especially if you are at a place in your life where you feel stuck.
Lisa lived her life as if everything she envisioned could be hers and then set out to make it so.
I won’t forget her.
Gifts Of The Journey 
Beautifully expressed Elizabeth x
Beautiful post, Elizabeth. Lisa was such amazing beautiful person and I too will always remember her.
So touching and heartfelt…and an urgent reminder to be bold and pursue your dreams before it is too late.
Beautiful tribute to Lisa’s life Elizabeth. I am glad she touched you so deeply. I will read her husband’s tribute as well, and hopefully her blog posts from the past. I am sorry we did not cross paths as we each shared the dream of living in France.
I am so glad that you wrote this lovely tribute to Lisa. I was so saddened to hear of her sudden death. I was always waiting for her next book.
Such a tender and heartfelt tribute Elizabeth.
So beautiful, I just can’t hold the tears back. A very beautiful tribute to a very beauitful bold soul.
I was so sure I would be seeing her soon, like even on the 14 juillet, for our annual picnic.. I had missed out about a month and didn’t even realise just how bad it had become. When I sat with her in April, and chatted away as she was having her hair done, I had absolutely NO DOUBT that she would get past this and continue to live her wonderful life. I am so sad that her life was cut so short, so angry that life is unjust like this and I feel the pain of her loss, for George and his kids, her family and friends and the bloggers who knew her… Lisa is, was and always will be a very truly unique and amazing person… I will miss her very much. A shining light has gone out, but we will all continue to keep her in our hearts..
Thank you for your lovely tribute.
Thank you Elizabeth for sharing about the amazing Lisa and her blog “The Bold Soul” with your heartfelt tribute to her and her amazing life. I am a sap for love and her and Georges story lassoed me in, right away. I spent most of yesterday perusing her 10 year blog and their story, and was so taken in by the “gifts of their journey”….Now, I am offering up prayers to my One and Only One who is able to give comfort and peace in the midst of unfathomable loss, for Lisa’s beloved Georges, and their families…this one thing: “Write about love!” Love never fails! Never!
Thank you for writing this. I was very sad to read of Lisa’s death by her husband’s heartfelt and graceful post on her blog – having read her blog for nearly 8 years.
Please excuse my group message response to all your lovely thoughts and shared experiences. I have been away in France for the last few days with my husband and it has been a time and energy struggle to get back to your kind comments. Truth told, I’ve had Lisa on my mind so much here in France, maybe more so because we are in France that I could not respond until now.
Even though we are in Brittany and not Paris, I cannot stop thinking about her and how brave she was to move to a city where almost everyone was speaking French and it was still a struggle for her. I’m not easily intimidated by new experiences, but during this trip (my French is non-exsistant ) I talked to John about how difficult it would be for me not to feel lonely in a place where one might always feel a bit like an outsider due to language barriers.
Writing this now I am keenly aware that today is Georges and Lisa’s wedding anniversary. I’ve seen melons almost everywhere we’ve been on this trip and each time I remember how Lisa wrote of Georges proposal, and the melon and the beach. It’s funny what stays with you.
I said in my post earlier that I would not forget her, but giving the melon connection and the amount of time John and I spend shopping for fruit, I think it will likely be Georges and Lisa remembered together when I see melons in the future.
I think she would like the idea that melons would trigger an image for me of Georges eternally down on one knee on ” Melon Beach ” asking her to marry him.
A few blogger friends posted some lovely tributes that you can find through the links below.
Carolyn – https://mysydneyparislife.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/tribute-to-a-woman-i-never-met-lisa-taylor-huff/
Kerstin – http://deardietmonster.com/blog/2015/7/good-bye-bold-soul
Leesa – http://islandgirl4ever2.blogspot.fr/2015/07/lisa-bold-soul-my-friend-adieu.html
Oh I am just in awe that you are with your man in France for such a time as this and the spiritual connections made even through location! I have been lifting dear Georges in prayer all weekend, just couldn’t get he and his beloved Lisa off my mind. I loved the picture his sister painted for them to memorialize their engagement! I keep thinking life is so short down here and we need to live it to the fullest in true love to last a lifetime! Thank you for sharing the blogs with tributes of their lives and love.
This is a beautiful tribute. Love… first and foremost…
What happened to you?