Talloires is a special place for us. When Kristian and I were wee babies, he decided that he needed to do something different. He’d been at Tufts University for nine years (four years as a student and five years as staff). He didn’t know what he wanted to do next, he just knew he needed a change. So, he took a job as an intern with the university’s European Center and spent six month in Talloires picking people up at the airport, mowing the lawn, and cleaning the bathrooms.
Because he gave them so much notice, he was part of the hiring committee to hire his replacement. And do you know who they picked?
Yeah, it was me.
Fun fact: he actually recommended a different candidate. But that guy wanted more money, so they got stuck with me.
(Muahahahaha)
I’m going to give him a hard time about this for the rest of our natural lives.
Kristian trained me, and I guess you could say that sparks flew. We discovered that we had very similar senses of humor. More than once over the summer that he was in France, one of my coworkers would say, “you know, we hired you to replace Kristian… but we didn’t think you’d be such a close replacement.” (usually after I made a truly stupid joke)
Kristian left me with his contact information “just in case,” and we started flirting over AOL Instant Messenger and Skype.
Eventually, I confessed that I was falling for him (even though it was pretty obvious without me saying anything). He reciprocated my feelings (duh) and we made plans to see each other in person. He’d had plans to come back to the US for a big hiking trip, but we were both disappointed when it got canceled. So, we did what any normal prospective couple would do when they want to confirm that the sparks really were flying.
We made plans to meet up in Dublin and neither of us told anybody where we were going.
That’s not entirely true… I told Beans and a family friend the details. If things went horribly wrong, someone needed to know where to look for my body, right?
Jokes aside, we picked Dublin because it was pretty cheap/easy for both of us to get to. And neither of us gave out the details, because we didn’t want to put pressure on ourselves. If I got there and realized that I wasn’t actually all that into him, I wanted to be able to head home and not have to answer a bunch of questions about it.
Beans knew everything, though. Because, if it all went horribly wrong, I was going to be crying on her couch and eating ice cream.
Twenty-something years later, I think it’s finally safe to tell you that it all worked out. In a little less than a month, we’re going to celebrate our crystal anniversary. I flew back home and started telling people that I’d met someone.
Towards the end of Kristian’s stay in France, I met up with him in Scotland, where we hung out with my dear friend James (who, years later, was instrumental in our decision to come and live on this side of the Atlantic). Then, we made our way back to Talloires, where I got to experience its beauty for the first time.
I remember waking up in his room (which is now a triple, he really had a good thing going when it was all his!) and looking out the window at this breathtaking view. I was equal parts jealous of the amazing experience that he was having, and grateful that his decision to try something different had brought us into each other’s orbits.
I think France must have stuck with us, because when we decided to have this crazy European adventure, it was the first (and last) country we thought of. I can’t begin to tell you how wild it was to make a trip back to the place that brought us together and to show our daughter around. Luckily for us, she’s a patient person. She nodded along to our stories with something approaching good humor.
Thank you, Talloires, for setting off the chain of events that brought us together. It truly changed my life for the better.
aw, such goofy cuties falling in LOVE!! i’m so glad you found each other!
I’m so glad we found each other as well!!! 😀