Anniversary

 

42 years ago, I was at a Credit Union Executives Marketing Conference at Tan Tara Resort in Lake of the Ozarks MO. Because, Missouri had not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, I almost didn't go because of it but the program looked so good.

I was the Public Relations Director of the Polaroid Credit Union. 

During a break at the snack bar, this rather skinny man started chatting. He ordered a milk shake and an apple. I don't remember what I ordered.

At the time credit union marketing was usually a role given to tellers. He and I were two of five there that had had professional marketing, public relations experience. It was a bond.

We hung out for the rest of the conference. Between sessions we went horseback riding, my last time on a horse. There was a quick dip in the pool. At a dinner, I watched his horror as I ordered catfish, a local treat.

When we went to leave for St. Louis airport, the roads were blocked by a flood. We rented a four-seated plane and were awed by the colors of the trees below us.

We stayed in touch as friends and professional colleagues. I left Polaroid Credit Union to start Digital Credit Union, which is now a billion dollar financial institution. He left IBM Credit Union, went to work for an ad agency and eventually started his own agency.

On his infrequent trips to Boston to see clients, we would meet up. We had at dinner Piaf's, saw a show with Lauren Bacall. I took him toe Where's Boston, a multi-media show, which gave him an overview of the city I loved. 

As with most professional friendships, when jobs change there was little need to communicate.

In 1990 I moved to Switzerland. We lost total track of each other. I filed him under good memories and things that weren't meant to be. Sigh.

In 2013 I received a LinkedIn message. "I'm in Geneva. Do you want a coffee." He was at an annual conferences. Luck had it I was. I was retired and divided my time between Southern France and Geneva. I'd become Swiss. 

That was the month of reunions. I'd met up with a high school friend who now had a Swiss partner. I also had a reunion with a woman I'd worked with at my first Swiss job. I'd dated her father as well. She had returned from several years working in Canada.

When I entered the Starbucks, I recognized him from the back. We went to the Cafe du Soleil for fondue. It is a place I take special people including business relations that I like and it isn't a duty.

We caught up on our lives. He had found me when he saw my by-line on a Credit Union Times article where I was their international correspondent. Now in marketing and PR for the airline simulation industry, he discovered I was in Geneva and took a chance.

I needed to catch my bus. A quick kiss and a "same time next year" and I ran.

On the bus, I realized that for years, I'd had more than a strong attraction but it wasn't to be acted on because of our personal situations.

We started to email back and forth.

I was at the chalet in the Valais Alps, when it hit me, what I had suppressed far too long. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. My next e-mail said, "I give up, I love you."

Two months later he visited me in Argelès. When he returned to the States he announced he was moving to France. 

August 2012 we had a commitment ceremony. In May 2015 we married civilly, the only legal marriage in most of Europe at the mairie in Corsier where I lived.

It has been a great eight years with the normal ups and downs and a few abnormal ones (cancer, immigration issues) that we handled abnormally well. 

I am so glad that I admitted I loved him. I should ask him over our special lunch today if he ever ate that apple.