Mothers offer their sons.
Sisters offer their brothers.
Islamist men offer themselves... (click HERE if you don't remember that one).
While I do get flirted with quite often by French men, I've never had one propose marriage before. Until yesterday.
CSI and I went to the church that the camelridingcowgirl had recommended from when she lived here. I think the youngest person in there was about 50 years old. (Was that how it was for you, CRC?) CSI and I certainly seemed out of place.
A man immediately approached us the minute the service was over; I thought to welcome us as newcomers. As soon as I opened my mouth, however, he understood that we were foreigners.
"Oh! Where are you from?" he asked.
"The United States."
"Even better!" (That was the first clue that something bizarre was going on...) He got very excited and began to talk to me about New York and the one trip he'd made there. He'd also gotten to go to South Carolina and on he talked for several minutes about how much he just loves the United States.
"Are you Protestant? Evangelical? Reformed?" (It was a Reformed church that we went to...I don't think that's the normal line of interrogation among French evangelicals.)
When I responded that yes, we were evangelicals, he put his cards on the table.
"Well, I have two sons--twins! They're 21 years old, and well, if you came over for dinner, you could meet them and it would be wonderful language practice for everyone. English for them, French for you. And well, ahem, you might have a nice time..."
It all became clear. Two young (well, one young, and one not-so-young-but-is-lucky-enough-to-look-younger-than-she-is) ladies walk into an evangelical church in a country where there just aren't that many single evangelicals running around...how could a well-intentioned father not invite two complete strangers over for dinner to meet his of-marrying-age sons? Especially when, "even better," they're Americans! I suppose it wasn't a marriage proposal, just your average run-of-the-mill parental arranged hook-up.
Some day, some day, I might be able to get the right kind of offer...
3 comments:
oh, wow, that's hilarious. and a little bit heartbreaking at the same time. Imagine how long it might take for him to find godly brides for his sons! I'm absolutely amazed that he's been to SC...I rarely met anyone in Marseille who knew where it was, much less in the rural countryside. ;-)
Ha! I can't tell you the number of times something like that happened to me while I lived in Poland:
"Where are you from?"
"America."
"Ahhh...I have a son..."
And so on. So funny, huh? I mean, just the kind of romance I've always looked for in my life! :-)
While I realize you don't want to be the object of his search (such matchmaking attempts do make for awkward situations), it is sweet that he wants Christian wives for his sons.
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