Paris, Is For Lovers At Any Age!

Ahhh, Paris and lovers.  Two inseparable words that comprise the soul of this beautiful city on the Seine.  This is a love story that will put a smile in your heart. If you want a feel-good sort of feeling; then read on.

Paris is synonymous with lovers intertwined on the banks of the Seine, lovers embracing each other in the parks, on the sidewalks and yes, lovers always nestling neck to neck in the metro!

Paris is really the city of love for those who seek and for even those who don’t!   Jean Pierre Meston, had to run to catch bus 46 that fateful Tuesday, August 20th.  By the time he finally got on, he was breathless.

At the ripe age of 86, that wasn’t so surprising.   As it was late in the afternoon, the bus was full but thankfully a younger woman was gracious enough to offer her seat to him.

As he settled down to catch his breath, he was suddenly overtaken with another sort of breathlessness that rarely occurs in our lives.  Sitting directly across from him was this “jolie Dame” as Jean Pierre tells us.

She was rather thin, tall, with light-coloured eyes, short-cropped hair and dressed in a white dress with blue flowers.  Jean Pierre felt instantaneously captivated.  A true “coup de foudre” as the French say for love at first glance.

He found enough courage to say hello and the two started a conversation.  Surprisingly, it that wasn’t as banal as you would expect with a stranger on a bus!

Before long, Jean Pierre surprisingly discovered that she was the same age as himself, only one month older.  Even more surprising was that they each were born on the same day of the month, she April 6th and he, May 6th in the year of 1933!

He told her that he much preferred taking the bus as there were too many stairs in the metro and it was hard on his knees. Lovely lady admitted the same.

Jean Pierre even ventured to tell her that he had recovered from a bout with cancer only to find out that this “jolie Dame” had too.

So engrossed had Jean Pierre become with this ongoing conversation, that before he knew it, he was already seven stops beyond where he should have gotten off.  Now he would have to catch another corresponding bus to get home.

Startled with the realization that he had already way passed his stop, he abruptly left “jolie dame” without getting her telephone number or name.

He humbly confessed to being a “real idiot”,   referring to having fallen under the charms of this lovely stranger on bus 46.

Angry at himself for not remembering to get at least her name before he left, Jean Pierre felt compelled to do all in his power to find this captivating “jolie Dame” once again.

Lovestruck as he was, he found himself writing a letter the next day in a desperate quest to find her. Knowing no other possible way to find his “sweetheart”, he made 25 copies of the letter.

He scotched taped his letter to four bus stops on bus route 46 that he thought had the best chance to catch her attention.  The extra copies assured that he could replace them if torn off.

It wasn’t too long afterwards that a few residents, amused and touched by the determination of this lovestruck octogenarian, photographed the letter and posted in on Twitter and FB.

Others followed suit and in no time Jean Pierre and “jolie Dame” had gone viral on social media.   In Paris, a lovers quest is deemed worthy of serious attention!

In his heart touching handwritten letter, Jean Pierre states that he is looking for the pretty lady that sat across from him on bus 46 on August 20 th.  He feels that she must live somewhere around bus stop Reuilly Diderot.

He went on to describe her looks and even that they shared the same age and same day of birth only one month apart, though he remarked that she looked at least 10 years younger.   He even mentioned they both had recovered from cancer.

He explained that he had left in a hurry to catch bus 86, but would have liked to stay on till Reilly Diderot to have spent more time with “jolie Dame”.

He humbly admitted that he felt like “an idiot to have fallen under the charms of this mysterious stranger.  His post scriptum indicated that this was the only way he could think to find her as “I never touch the internet”.

A few days later Jean Pierre received a call from a genealogist who had taken an interest in his plight. She explained that she had access to each arrondissements city hall records of births and found who she thought must be this “jolie Dame”.

With her telephone number in hand, he arranged a rendezvous with his “coup de foudre” the following Monday.  Contacted later by a reporter hoping for a scoop, Jean Pierre recounted with delight that the lady of his dreams was adorable and her face was even prettier than he remembered, summing up the meeting as “magical”.

“Je suis aux anges”(I’m in seventh heaven) he exclaimed and went on to explain how relieved he was to find out that she lived alone and that after seeing her, he “felt like a kid again”.  However, “jolie Dame” mentioned she wanted their friendship to remain discreet and just between the two of them.

Was jolie Dame as enchanted with Jean Pierre as he was with her?  Will we ever know the outcome of this incredible heart touching scenario?  I predict somehow we might.

At least I hope so, and I am sure that I am not alone in wondering what will happen to Jean Pierre and his newfound lady!

Coincidences happen when they are supposed to.  Jung called that synchronicity.  It is as if the universe sometimes try to work in our favour for some unknown reason that defies rationality.

Maybe it was love angels who arranged this whole meeting and certainly prompted the right circumstances to interplay and bring about this magical moment on the physical plane.

We all need help from time to time, and well in Paris when it comes to lovers,  mere mortals love to help out as well as those winged ones from the angelic realm!

Here’s to Jean Pierre and his “jolie Dame”!