Serendipity

Feb 3, 2010 by cafebebemama

Serendipity is defined (by Wikipedia) as the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. There’s a slightly cheesy sweet movie of the same name starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusak…have a look:

I’m a sucker for romantic cheese!  Well, my story may not involve New York or John Cusak and I most definitely don’t look like Kate Beckinsale but it is romantic and serendipitous!  Ready…here comes some cheese…

I lived and worked in Peoria, Illinois from 1998-2002.  I worked as a Preschool Gymnastics Director and as Peoria is the headquarters for Caterpillar (you know…the big earth mover machines…vroom vrooom) I met a lot of international families who were “doing time” in Peoria.  I taught a lot of kids with lovely English and Australian and French accents and became friends with their Mummies and Daddies.  As I was still a single girl and very trustworthy and a wonderful teacher, I did some babysitting for some of the families as well.  Julie was the Mum of one family of 3 kids and a Hubby.  She was welcoming and lovely and always made me feel at home.  Julie asked me a lot about my life and family and loves of which there wasn’t much to tell (the loves that is).  She told me about her brother, back in England, who was married but would be “so perfect for me”.  Great…thanks for that!  We continued to be friends even after I moved away from Peoria in 2002.

In 2003, after spending 8 years in the Gymnastics Industry teaching little ones to sommersault and “Ta Da”, I chose to return to University to pursue a second degree in teaching.  When I saw a possibility of pursuing a French Teaching Degree, I jumped at it as I had always loved all things French including the language.  I began my studies and after a year found that in order to fulfill a degree requirement, I would have to do a semester studying abroad.  The location for the Study Abroad semester was Caen, France.  I applied in 2004 and was accepted and began to get ready for France.  I had a holiday from school and went back down to Peoria to visit friends.  Julie was one of those friends.  Over tea, we talked about our lives and what was going on and I mentioned that I was going to be doing a Study Abroad semester the following year.  She reminded me about her brother, in England who was now no longer married.  Julie asked me to give her my contact details and she would pass them on to her brother and at the very least, she said, I could have a “friend” on that side of the pond while I was in France.

Months passed and I never gave another thought to hearing from an English stranger.  For my birthday in November of 2004, a friend and I attended a Keith Urban concert (Country Music Singer…he’s rather dreamy…an Aussie so he’s ok!) and during the concert I checked my cell phone (US)  for messages.  Over the din of the crowd I heard a strange accent speaking at me “Uh…hello…this is Mark *****, Julie’s brother, from England…I’ll ring you back another time…Cheers!”  Huh???  A strange Englishman on my phone??  And then I remembered Julie’s brother and got rather excited!  About a week later, the phone rang and my mom came running with it to my room (yes, I had moved back in with my Mom while I was in school…so shoot me).  “It’s the Brit!” she whispered at me.  “Oh, well…” I said.  I took the phone from her and shut the door on her and proceeded to have the most wonderful conversation with this strange Englishman for about an hour.  We laughed a lot and I listened REALLY hard to understand his accent which is tricky on the phone.  I got his number and we said we’d speak again soon.

I can’t remember all of the specifics of each conversation we had but after I learned how to ring international and figured out time differences, we spoke more than a handful of times between that first conversation and the end of January 2005.  I decided to be bold and make arrangements to see him in person when I arrived in France.  I booked an Easy Jet flight from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Friday, 4 February to spend a weekend with Mark in England.  I would be leaving the US on 31 January, arriving in Paris on 1 February and settling in Caen that week.  I wasn’t “expected” at the University until Monday 7 February where we had an orientation meeting.  That first week in Caen was more than difficult and I was so grateful to be travelling to England on that first weekend.  I took an early afternoon flight from Paris to Luton Airport on Friday 4 February.  We didn’t even REALLY know what each other looked like.  I thought he had blond hair (Julie has blond highlights and they’re twins so I figured he’d be blond) and about all he was looking for from me was my hot pink suitcase that I had told him about.  Apparently not long before I came out of the arrivals area, he chased down another woman with a hot pink suitcase who was NOT me!

When I walked out the arrivals door at Luton, I saw him waiting for me.  I knew it was him.  He was tall and not blond but I knew it was him.  He said, “Karin?” and I said, “Mark?” and I threw my arms around him.  I was so grateful to be there and that he was there.  We walked to the car and drove the 75 minutes to his home (our home now).  I yammered away the entire time and he laughed in all the right places.  We had a wonderful weekend, that first weekend.  Despite having a serious case of travel sickness and lingering jet lag, I loved being around Mark and seeing his England.  I looked at him, across the Chilli Con Carne that first night and thought “I could fall in love with this guy”.  Our weekend went by way too fast and when it came time to part at Luton, neither of us knew quite what to do.  At the departure area I said, “You’ll have to come visit me in France now” and he said, “OK, you pick the time”.  And then it was time to go.  I walked into his arms and he folded them around me.  He rested his head on mine and we stood there like that for a few minutes.  I think we both knew that something special had begun.  I turned my head to him and we kissed lightly on the lips and I hugged him close again.  We said goodbye and I promised to let him know when I got back to Caen.  I flew back to Paris and eventually to Caen and was blissful but unsure.  Did he like me?  Did we have something?  I was from America!  What would happen??

We both spoke to Julie later that night and through her realise that we both were rather smitten.  We continued to chat and text by mobile and I made arrangements for us to meet for a weekend in Paris beginning 19 February.  Paris is one of my favourite cities in the whole world and I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it with someone that I was romantically interested in.  That train ride to Paris that Friday 19 February was so exciting and nerve wracking.  Mark was flying from England and would arrive at CDG in the early evening.  I made the hotel arrangements for the Hotel Elysees-Union.  This is my favourite hotel in Paris…off Avenue Kleber on Rue Hamelin, I wholeheartedly recommend it…it’s lovely.  I arrived in the middle of the afternoon on 19 February, 2005 and checked into the hotel.  I enjoyed a nice bath and got changed to then take a coach/shuttle out to CDG Airport in order to meet Mark.  He walked out of the doors at arrivals and I jumped into his arms and we kissed…properly.  We were back together and nothing else mattered.

I will leave out most of the details of that weekend as my parents read this blog but suffice it to say, we had the most amazing weekend possible.  I showed Mark the city that I love and toured him around place after place despite the fact that he had the beginnings of a rather horrible cold!  I learned the phrase Route March that weekend because that is apparently what I took him on!  We stood under the Eiffel Tower with winds flapping all around us and looked up and imagined our lives together.  On top of Montmartre’s Sacre Coeur, Mark stood behind me with his arms around me and we just breathed in the city.  We were falling in love but didn’t quite know how to say it.  When we parted on Monday morning, I to take the train back to Caen and school, Mark to take the bus to the airport to fly back to England and work, I cried.  I didn’t want to be away from Mark…I didn’t want it to end.  We promised to speak daily and I would make arrangements to take the Ferry from Ouistreham that weekend to spend another weekend in England with Mark.  When I was boarding the train back to Caen that morning, I texted Mark and said “Come Away With Me” as we both rather like Norah Jones and her album was popular at the time.  He texted me back “On a Bus?”  I texted back “On a Mountaintop”.  We were both sad, happy and excited at the same time.

So, a serendipitous meeting with Mark’s twin sister in March of 2004 led to us, married and parents 6 years later.  Funny, that…we were meant to be.  There’s so much more to our story and I’ll share a bit of it in a Valentines post and vlog.  I’ve written this post thanks to a Writing Prompt from Josie at Sleep is for the Weak.  It’s prompt number three, “Write a post on the theme of ‘soul mates’”.  I think Mark and I were destined, fated, whatever you want to call it, to be together.  How else could a woman living in middle America end up with a man living in middle England?  I’ll leave you with a song which I used on our wedding invitations.  Thank you for putting up with my long post and indulging me a trip down memory lane.  Mark and I have been together for 5 years as of 4 February, 2010 and I know we are soul mates.  We found each other and complete each other.  Happy Anniversary Sweetie!