For our 5th Throwback Thursday, let Raphaelle’s grand-parents tell you all about their romance, and how it started !
My grand-parents have been married for 52 years. Quite the time. Obviously sometime they quarrel, they throw harsh words at each others, they are bored, but some other times, when I will call them over, my grandma would be like – your grand-father just threw a pillow at me, while I was distracted answering the phone.
And so 53 years after their first meeting I asked them to go over their story one more time.
What happens when two people tell the same story, just in a very different way ? Well for you to discover – if you speak french, here are the exclusive soundtracks.
My grandpa’s side of the story :
My grandma’s side of the story :
If you don’t speak french, let me summarize it a bit for you.
First they tell their romance in a very different way. What they both agree on was that it all started in a train.
– My grandpa speaks about how he was an officer at the time, how he first found my grandma charming, and somehow managed to sit next to her one day, and then how it started to become an habit, and how he showed her around in his car – he is very proud of this car, a Porsches, though he doesn’t own it anymore.
- My grandma tells me about this young officer, whom she found charming, but whose deep toned voice deeply attracted her, and how she saw he was keeping a spot for her to sit.
My grand-parents in Venice
May I add to the piece
Interestingly enough, what they don’t speak about in that piece – and the first thing I would be to start with if I had to tell their story – is how both of them were married at the time all this train romance happened.
Actually, as I asked her about it, just after I recorded, my Grandma told me how lucky she was her first husband did not oppose the divorce and her keeping their child, otherwise it would have been made really difficult given the law at the time. And she also added that her family was not too keen on her getting a divorce, since well back in the 1950’s it was still a big deal.
And I clearly remember how admirative I was the first time she told me about it, because on the moment I thought, yes, that is the kind of woman I want to grow up to, someone who stands for her own happiness and choices.
Can you imagine, having a romance taking the subway / tube / metro / RER / regional train ?
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