Candes Saint-Martin, my favourite spot in La Touraine.

Saturday 16 May 2015

She couldn’t have been more surprised


After a disappointing phone call to a woman who clearly wasn’t Marleen and didn’t have the faintest idea who I was, I tried to figure out another way to find my old-time friend. The most obvious place to look these days is the internet, starting with social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogger. None of these offered a conclusive result. At one point I thought that I had found her. I found a Facebook page of someone with the same name, although I must say that Marleen’s family name is quite common in Belgium and even Holland.

A recently added photo looked promising too. It showed a 50-something, fair-haired woman in a summer frock, posing with two teenage girls against a turquoise, cloudless sky. I racked my brain trying to find some resemblance with the twenty year old Marleen that I had known in the late 80ties, early 90ties. The longer I stared at the photo, the less convinced I became.

Why not try it the old-fashioned way? The online telephone directory. And … bingo! No, I didn’t find Marleen. That would have been too easy. However, I stumbled across her father’s name. He and her mother apparently still lived in the village where Marleen grew up. I remember her parents rather well, especially her father. When my husband died he was working with an insurance company and he gave me some very useful tips and help while going through the inevitable red-tape one has to deal with when a near one passes away.

I called the number and Marleen’s father picked up. I identified myself, hoping he would still remember me. After all, both her parents must be in their late seventies by now. After the usual preliminaries he told me that Marleen was now living in Kos. The line was rather bad and I mistook Kos for Koersel, a village not far from their home. At my request he gave me her telephone number, which turned out to be much longer than the usual 9 digits. The 0030 prefix indicated that it was a Greek number …


Runway of Corfu airport on the left. (photo from the internet)
L
ooks small from the sky, doesn't it. Hope my Airbus a319 pilot knows what he's doing. 

I hesitated before dialing it. In the past a telephone conversation with Marleen had usually lasted several hours. Telephone calls in Belgium are free of charge between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. and during weekends and official holidays. This rule doesn’t apply to calls to other countries though. Our former calling habits in mind, an unprepared conversation would probably cost me a fortune.

I quickly ran the intended conversation through my head and dialed the number. The phone at the other end was ringing bright and clear: “Marleen speaking” – “Hi Marleen …” Before I had the chance to say another word, she chanted “Martine?!” It was heart-warming to discover that – after all these years – she immediately recognized my voice …

12 comments:

chm said...

Wow! You should write detective stories. Can't wait for the next installment.

GaynorB said...

And...? ;o)

Craig said...

How remarkable that she remembered your voice! I'm enjoying your tale!

Carolyn said...

That is so touching! What a good friend!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

How amazing that you found Marleen , and how amazing her parents still live in the village she grew up in.

Bob said...

In the last 5 years I have made contact with about a dozen friends I have not seen for 40 plus years. Found them on the internet or Facebook. When we get together, it seems like we were never apart. Still so much in common, probably the reason we became friends to begin with. Although much older now, we still talk about the past as though it were yesterday. I am glad you took the effort to make the contact. I am sure it will be well worth it. Hope you are able to have a reunion!!!!

Bob said...

since I have apple products, i use FaceTime Audio to speak with my friends close by as well as in Europe. They have to also have an apple product. The connection is great,sound is better than a wireless phone and it's free anytime. I guess you could do the same with Skype.

VirginiaC said...

Oh I'm so happy for you that you found your long lost friend Marleen after all these years.
Gosh it must have been fun catching up.

The Broad said...

Beautiful! Are you off to Kos soon???

Louise said...

Oh, what a wonderful story...instalment?...I am so looking forward to hearing about the catchup after so many years...

Louise said...

What a wonderful story...I am so looking forward to the next instalment Martine!

Jean said...

Marvellous!
I hope you get the chance to meet up...........