It IS a small world after all

Recently, Reilly and I were walking back from the Jardin du Luxembourg as is our routine when Bill travels.  But, we deviated from our routine just slightly and I decided to window shop at the little parasol boutique on Blvd St. Michel.  As I admired all the frills and flourishes that adorn Parisian parapluies, Reilly was being her cute self...so much so that a lovely couple stopped to gush over her.  They asked en Francais if they could pet the dog and I replied en Francais, bien sur/of course.  Reilly very excitedly started to prance and paw so I encouraged her en Anglais, to be gentle and not to jump.  Lo and behold, her admirers spoke English...and not just English...American. 

Quickly and cordially, we switched to our native language and the puppy gushing and small talk ensued!!  I learned that Roger and Christine lived in the building that housed the cute little umbrella shop.  We talked about how cute the Rei-ster is and that she really is quite an effective ambassador for the USA.  Roger is from DC and my eldest daughter now lives and works in DC (Please start humming Disney's Its a Small World After All).  Christine is Swiss and works for the Swiss Embassy...and she is delightful, pretty, kind and loves to read!  More about Roger later as our world gets smaller..,ooh... foreshadowing!

Roger and Christine have returned to Paris after several soujourns about the world including but not limited to Switzerland, the Ivory Coast...and they find themselves 12 years and ten months later living in an apartment directly across the boulevard from their first Paris apartment! Hmm...it's a small world.

Roger is quite amiable and gregarious.  As we ended our howdy-do outside the little shop, he offered me his card and e-mail...and their kind friendship, which I took, quite readily.  We talked about their work, my newness to Paris, this blog and a few other niceties.   Those of you who've known me for a long time and know me well know must realize that this quite outside my norm.  I am a very cautious person....friendly yes, but I am not a huge risk taker.  Taking that card, exchanging names and handshakes was oddly empowering and a wee bit nerve wracking all at the same time! 

When Reilly and I got home, I wrote a self-serving blog entry and waited an appropriate amount of time before I sent off a quick message to our new acquaintances and smiled, proudly at myself for being so courageous. 

Before long a very cordial reply was recieved and Bill and I were invited to Roger and Christine's apartment the following Monday for a housewarming/birthday party for Roger.  All this in just a matter of hours and Bill was out of the country...I was on my game!

When Bill came home on Saturday, I shared with him my adventure and the news of an invitation.  Surprisingly, he was up for it and we sent our rsvp in the affirmative.  Please dear reader, I cannot stress enough how big this is in the scheme of our Parisian things...for me this was a major breakthrough. 

Monday, 18:30, arrived and we set on up the boulevard St. Michel and to our first non-work/Bill's connection related soiree.  We were there because I opened up. I took a risk.  I got really lucky to find such kind and gracious people during a really stressful period (see blog about my pity party).  With a fine bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers in tow, we entered a new place and phase in Paris...new friends.  We stayed for a couple of hours, talking with people from Paris, Switzerland and Germany...aside from Roger, we were the only Americans there...and with the exception of Roger and Christine's Parisian neighbor...everyone spoke English among their other languages.  Americans are spoiled and we really should make greater efforts to teach our students a second and third language...to the point of conversational comfort at least. All in all it was a lovely time.

As the month progressed, Emily and her friend arrived for a visit and we were off on a whirlwind of sightseeing and stuff.  I realized that I had not properly thanked our hosts for a grand time and I dashed off an e-mail with thanks and a request that we get together soon to continue getting to know each other better...and no this is not stalker-ish...just polite.

After an few e-mail exchanges and setting Olivia back on her way to the US, we agreed to have lunch and catch up.  Christine would not be able to join us, but Roger was available and we had lunch yesterday.  Roger brought a yummy dessert and I practiced my vegetarian cooking...with success; so much so that I now have a new entry in my on-going oeuvre of recipes for my cookbook.

So over tartines, salad and a lovely Rose, we talked about living in Paris and work and changes.  Roger is starting up a new art consulting business and I have made some inquiries for him among my artist friends in Groton.  We talked about agendas and social networking.  We talked about using Facebook for business and I related that my brother-in-law, a chef in Newport News has a fb page for his restaurant.  Come to find out, Roger grew up in the Port Warwick neighborhood of Newport News and he is quite familiar with Hilton Village, Chad and Karen's stomping  ground...it's a small, small world.  Roger was a military brat like me...and like me spent part of our respective childhoods in the Tidewater area at various miltiary bases.   I mentioned the Sand Pool (you should be hearing a crescendo of the Small World chorus now!) at Fort Eustis in Newport News and don't you know, we were both sunbathing on its sandy shores in the 1970's! Heck, it is entirely possible that we stood in line next to each other waiting to go up the ladder for the high dive!  I mean really...35 years and roughly 3000 miles later, we were sharing lunch and memories.

Lunch went by far too quickly, but the good news is they live right up the street.  Small world huh?