{"id":58098,"date":"2025-02-16T06:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T11:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=58098"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:28:58","slug":"a-matchmaker-named-natasha-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/la-marieuse-sappelait-natasha-chapitre-1\/","title":{"rendered":"A matchmaker named Natasha - Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m writing this morning to alleviate the wild churning of ideas pounding my head. I search for a new word, an imaginative verb, a cascade of ideas that lengthen and stretch, flirting with the possibility of losing all meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My rattling heart trembles and throbs. Love \u2013 real, overpowering love \u2013 teases me still with small, chivalrous acts. A new friend who recently joined our group of old-timers at the coffee shop is so handsome and agreeable that I feel an uncontrollable impulse to move a little closer to him. I must be mad! What a strange adventure this desire to love is! I\u2019ve forever carried the weighty word \u201cLOVE\u201d in my old heart, whose key I\u2019ve probably misplaced long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My lucky friend Gis\u00e8le, who\u2019s the epitome of kindness, found love and beauty in a dependable man her age, 6 foot 2 with blue eyes. How I envy these two! He\u2019s a former businessman, globetrotter and art collector. She spent the holidays with her paramour, whose name is J\u00e9r\u00f4me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They invited me to join them between Christmas and New Year\u2019s, but I pretended I\u2019d already booked five days in Quebec City in order to leave the lovers to themselves; better that than being a third wheel. Did this white lie save my honour? It certainly didn\u2019t save me from tears: I cried my heart out all alone in my pyjamas in front of the Christmas tree with a few caramel toasts on a pretty holiday platter to comfort me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gis\u00e8le had also given me a box of delicious fudge, so the next morning, I pulled myself together, made myself presentable and went to the coffee shop to share the fudge with my friends and the newcomer. He flashed me that kind of bright smile you only see in a TV commercial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My second-door neighbour, who\u2019s in his late sixties and married to his sweet Carole, told me the other day that faded old men often find love and even get remarried. These daring men put on dapper clothes, comb their hair (or what\u2019s left of it), spritz on the cologne and go out dancing. Upon arriving, they scan the room and stretch out their hand to the prettiest lady for the next dance. I\u2019\u5be7never waltzed or even tried to dance again after I met Husband on that cursed dance floor that night. Only written words comfort me \u2013 those that emerge from my mind and those served to me on a silver platter by great authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days, however, I\u2019m in desperate need for something or someone to electrify, excite and thrill me. Could this new friend be single? I spy on him, I\u2019m on the lookout for him; my neck gets stiff in no time from secretly watching him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A little before the pandemic, I\u2019d registered for an online class on living well, given by a trusted institution. Have I ever told you about this? Every Sunday morning, for three hours, I\u2019d turn on my iPad and absorb precious tips from experts. I also had homework to submit. Each participant had to decide on a major goal to accomplish. I didn\u2019t set my sights on climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, but I might as well have!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After listening to the advice of some close friends, I decided to sign up with the \u201cbest\u201d matchmaking service in town! It took all the courage in me to overcome my fears! After all, I\u2019m no spring chicken, but I\u2019m still very busy\u2014almost too much so\u2014and a bit of a public personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Am I too old to flirt with love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TO BE CONTINUED.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cora<br>\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m writing this morning to alleviate the wild churning of ideas pounding my head. I search for a new word, an imaginative verb, a cascade of ideas that lengthen and stretch, flirting with the possibility of losing all meaning. My rattling heart trembles and throbs. Love \u2013 real, overpowering love \u2013 teases me still with small, chivalrous acts. A new friend who recently joined our group of old-timers at the coffee shop is so handsome and agreeable that I feel an uncontrollable impulse to move a little closer to him. I must be mad! What a strange adventure this desire to love is! I\u2019ve forever carried the weighty word \u201cLOVE\u201d in my old heart, whose key I\u2019ve probably misplaced long ago. My lucky friend Gis\u00e8le, who\u2019s the epitome of kindness, found love and beauty in a dependable man her age, 6 foot 2 with blue eyes. How I envy these two! He\u2019s a former businessman, globetrotter and art collector. She spent the holidays with her paramour, whose name is J\u00e9r\u00f4me. They invited me to join them between Christmas and New Year\u2019s, but I pretended I\u2019d already booked five days in Quebec City in order to leave the lovers to themselves; better that than being a third wheel. Did this white lie save my honour? It certainly didn\u2019t save me from tears: I cried my heart out all alone in my pyjamas in front of the Christmas tree with a few caramel toasts on a pretty holiday platter to comfort me. Gis\u00e8le had also given me a box of delicious fudge, so the next morning, I pulled myself together, made myself presentable and went to the coffee shop to share the fudge with my friends and the newcomer. He flashed me that kind of bright smile you only see in a\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":58113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Chapitre 1 : Mme Cora \u00e9crit pour apaiser le tourbillon d'id\u00e9es dans sa t\u00eate et amorce le r\u00e9cit de sa rencontre avec une marieuse.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"class_list":["post-58098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58098"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}