Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

How I Came to Meet my French Husband at the iBeam in Twenty Steps

  corey amaro blogger living in France

Twenty steps to a new Life:

  1. 1986 Yann, (my French Husband) took a year off to travel through the U.S.A..
  2. He had a childhood friend who lived in Chicago, so he went there first.
  3. Skylark was a $300 rusty car. He bought it to see his dream:
  4. The setting sun over the Pacific.
  5. During a freak snowstorm in Colorado he kissed a girl in the backseat of a police car.
  6. Lack of modern devises added with a terrible sense of direction landed him in East L.A. 
  7. In a grocery store parking lot Skylark was his hotel. A gang greeted him. Not digging L.A. he headed down I-5.
  8. Remembering a note his Mother's neighbor gave him, he reached for his wallet.
  9. The "note" said, "If in California I have a daughter who lives in Gustine."
  10. At that very moment the road sign read: "Gustine" Yann pulled off.
  11. Madame H. lived on a horse ranch and cooked French food.
  12. Madame H. had a French niece, who was married to an American man and lived in San Francisco. Yann went to visit them.
  13. They were vegetarians. Yann gave up meat.
  14. http://www.discomusic.com/images/mscl/ibeam-tix-150.jpg
  15. Every night, every dance imaginable happened at the I-Beam: Rock, punk, ballet, jazz, slow, hip-hop to the sound of New Wave. Yann's newfound friend's told him it was one of the hottest nightclubs in town, gay most nights, but on Tuesday it was a free for all, a wonderful wild dance scene. They went dancing.
  16. Tuesday, April 1986, 10:00 p.m., 1748 Haight Street, San Francisco, a lonely girl danced at the I-Beam. Yann noticed.
  17. Language skills were at a minimum. Yann told the girl his name.
  18. The disco ball's sparks couldn't hold a candle to the flame that started with that one word: John.
  19. Yann's heart wanted to stay in San Francisco.
  20. Needing a job, without a green card Yann became an Aupair, and modeled nude (but you don't want to hear about that do you?)

Comments

15 responses to “How I Came to Meet my French Husband at the iBeam in Twenty Steps”

  1. Diogenes

    Dear Corey, Happy New Year to you and your family!

    Reply
  2. Tongue in Cheek

    Happy New Year to you xx

    Reply
  3. Betty Carlson

    Happy New Year!
    Interesting, I also met my French husband when he took time off in the USA — not a year, but about four months. Since I was a French teacher, many people assume we met in France, but this is not the case.

    Reply
  4. Susan

    It was meant to be 🙂
    thanks for the story – would love to learn more!

    Reply
  5. Monika

    Of *course* we want to hear about the nude modelling!! (and the au pairing too!)
    In 1986, I was in art school, drawing nude models twice a week. None of them looked anything like Yann. (Of course, Calgary was not much like S.F. either)
    I met mine in 1988 when I went to get an application for grad school — he was working the reception desk.
    All it took was just one look.
    I swear, there were Broadway theatre marquee arrows flashing and pointing towards him from every direction, and the Universe was booming inside my head “That is HIM! Do you hear me? That is HIM, THE ONE!”.

    Reply
  6. Paulita

    How romantic the story that brought the two of you together so many years ago. So happy that both of you found the right person and that you came to write a blog about your experiences living in France. Happy new year.

    Reply
  7. Paulita

    What a joyous meeting and life that has ensued. Thanks for sharing it with your blog readers. Happy New Year.

    Reply
  8. Bonnie Gale

    This is getting very interesting. Please continue the series. And, to be clear, I am not just referring to the part about the nude modeling. Most of us have done a little of that at one time, usually 25 years and 15 pounds ago. Happy New Year and thank you for sharing your engaging stories and wisdom.

    Reply
  9. Terri

    I saw so many great shows at the IBeam on Haight in the eighties (Replacements, Buzzcocks, Meat Puppets…)! It was a blast! How funny you would meet your husband there. We must have run in the same circles!

    Reply
  10. tammyCA

    You betcha we wanna hear!! 😄 I only hope he wasn’t modeling nude as an aupair. 😳😃
    I sure laughed at #6. I never heard the story of your meeting..pretty remarkable.

    Reply
  11. Ann

    You met Yann as an answer to all the prayers going your way at the time. Interesting how the universe does that in the most unexpected places and time. The only part about it is that it took you far away from your family, friends, and country. Watch out what you pray for, you will get an answer but it may not be exactly how you imagined it. 🙂

    Reply
  12. KAMFreeman

    your stories, Corey, always warm my heart and give me morning smiles…what happy, only pure magic could arrange this meeting memories you have. So many shared years, beautiful children, so much love and deep friendships..thank you for adding all of this to my life through stories shared…may you and Yann continue to explore new routes of adventure forever…the surprises are the magic.

    Reply
  13. Irene Thomas

    More, more…..

    Reply
  14. Marilyn

    sweet!

    Reply
  15. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    Lucky me, because I started reading today instead of yesterday, so I got the nude modeling story before the step-by-step above. (How long did he do it, btw? I would think the hardest part was to hold a still pose as long as required, which probably is what took all the “poof” possibities out of the picture. So to speak.)
    Actually I want to hear more about #5: “During a freak snowstorm in Colorado he kissed a girl in the backseat of a police car.” What was he doing in the back of a police car? Kissing a girl? In a freak snowstorm? What an intriguing mishmash.
    Also I”m wondering what you’d do if one of your dear children, at age twenty-seven (or tunty-tree; I love how you wrote that!), met someone in a club and immediately took up with him/her and moved away to live married in that other person’s country. Don’t things just look oh so different when one is young and enthused (and perhaps slightly short-sighted) and bold?
    Happy new years to you and Yann.
    RC

    Reply

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