PROBABLE!

December 23 is a day I shall never forget.  It was a day that another dream came true.

Years ago, we discovered that we love to travel.  The natural progression, at least for us, was to wonder what it might be like to live in a foreign country for a while.  We talked about it often, agreed that if we ever had the opportunity to do so we should take it and always hoped that somehow, some way, an opportunity would present itself.  There have been many times through the years that it was possible, but not probable or practical, but still, we kept hoping.  More recently, there was some murmuring about the possibility of working in Paris.  Ron didn't really have to ask, but he did any way.  "What are your thoughts?  Are you interested?"  The answer is always the same, "Of course!"  But I didn't get my hopes up because possible and probable are two very different things.  

I wish I had it all documented, tape recorded, permanently etched in my brain, but because I was too afraid to get excited about another possible, it didn't occur to me to try to preserve the sequence of events.  Sometime during the week leading up to Christmas 2010, Ron told me that a coworker was asked to go to Paris.  See?  Possible, but not probable.  I was disappointed that another possible passed us by.  But wait!  The coworker can't go!  What does this mean???  I would like to say that I was sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out if Ron would get the offer.  But it was a busy week and Christmas was fast approaching and there was so much stuff to do.  Another possible just couldn't take up too much real estate in my head, so I didn't think about it much.  I was planning menus, and purchasing last minute gifts and editing photos and, and, and.  I remember one evening during dinner we chatted about it and we talked about some strategies to get Ron's name in front of the right people.  But still, another possible that probably isn't probable, so I could not would not get my hopes up.  

December 23 was a day like any other December 23.  The day before the day before Christmas is a busy one and I was busy.  Somewhere floating around in my gray matter I knew Ron was trying to get his name on the list of candidates to go to Paris.  I don't know the people or the process and it's December 23 for crying out loud.  The odds of anything happening this late in the game, this late in the week, this close to Christmas and the end of the year shut down are slim at best.  So I was blissfully unaware that possible was morphing into probable.

Then Ron called me.

"I'm on my way home.  What does sigalert look like?"  We played this game nearly every day.  He would leave work and simultaneously call me on his cell.  I would check out sigalert on-line and guide him home on the route with the least traffic.   So I start guiding him.  And then he says, "So there's a good possibility I'm going to Paris."

Oh.My.Gosh.  Yay!  Wait! Don't get your hopes up!  He said POSSIBILITY!  So we have the strangest conversation ever.  I need answers, he's trying to drive, I'm asking questions, he's trying to answer.  I'm too excited even though I'm not supposed to be excited to even think straight and ask all the right questions.  He says he needs to call someone and ask more questions himself, so we agree to hang up and we'll talk as soon as he gets here.

I think it took him 4 days to get home.  The waiting was interminable, torturous.  He arrives and even though I'm not very excited I can hardly contain myself.  Possible has been on our radar many times, but this was tangible possible.  This was they're actually talking about it possible.  This was Ron and Paris used in the same sentence possible.  We had never been this close to probable before.  Unfortunately, the phone call he needed to make on the drive home ended up being a message.  No answer on the other line.  I was deflated, but only a little bit.

We were both very hungry and were planning to have a late lunch together, but before we could go,  Ron's phone rang.  It was him.  Him who would choose who goes to Paris.  I have listened to a lot of one-sided phone conversations before, but this one damn near killed me.  Eventually, Ron put the phone on speaker mode so I could hear what he was hearing.  There was a lot of yadda yadda and lot of this and that and lot of well you knows, but in the end he said,

"You need to plan on going and being in Paris by mid-January.  And you should plan on your wife going with you."

PROBABLE!

La Tour Eiffel