French husband proposed to me in a small neighborhood park in Paris.
His breath was swirling white from the cold; funny when you are first
in love, the things around seem brand new and miraculous, seeing his
breath made me feel less cold. We sat on a bench. French husband handed
me a box of chocolates. Opening it I saw a simple gold band in one of
the empty chocolate spots. Oh. I looked up at him, and followed his
eyes…
Slouched over the park's fountain was a young man, obviously poor in
spirit, shaking from cold, he was holding a spoon over a lighter. I
looked back at French Husband, and tried to understand. French Husband
stood up, as if in a trance he went to the young man, put his arms
around him and held him for which seemed like eternity. He rocked him
and gently talked to him. Eventually, the two of them walked to the
nearby phone booth, later an ambulance came. French Husband walked back
to where I was sitting. He told me the young man was trying to shoot up
heroin- and yet he felt it was more than that. French Husband sensed
the young man was trying to kill himself, and he felt he needed someone
to hold on to.
At that moment I knew my answer would be yes.
The way to know the heart of a person is to see how they treat people they don't know when in need.
Photo: Views and painting of Versailles taken while visiting Marie Antoinette's Trianon.
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