Must Be Meant To Be: Three Mind Blowing Meet Cutes

It's called Trombone Champ. If you've never played it, listen to me when I say to you that, you will laugh NonStop for at least twenty five minutes. That's how we Seriously, it's amazing. It's just you just downloaded. It's a it's a computer game. Yeah, and it's like it's like rock Band or Beat Saber, one of those music games, um, except you're playing a trombone and it's really hard to control and it sounds insane, so funny because trombones sound ridiculous. Yeah,

it's exactly. It's because trombone is objectively the funniest instrument. It is a lot funnier when you're bad at it. I did pretty well and everybody was having a bad time. I know. We were like, okay, like I don't care. I've been saying for a long time, we need a Twitch channel for Diana to play video games because she's at some games shockingly good. She will beat you at Mortal Kombat. She'll say all day long, I don't want to play, I don't want to play. I don't like it,

and then she'll kick your ass. Um. But you put her in front of Trombone Champ or Grand Theft Auto Chaotic in the best way. I love it. I was the worst at Trombone Champ, which meant I was the best because we could not stop giggling. So let us know if you want us to quit doing ridiculous romance and devote ourselves to a full time Uh. Patreon it funded twitch stream. Well, y'all. Uh, we're very excited because we're back here on our our video stream of the podcast,

our first TikTok video total hit. 're glad y'all were able to check that out and uh and responded well to it. We didn't get anyone commenting who were these ugly idiots we were for TikTok so watch out, all of your everything you ever thought about yourself is going to be thrown a disharp relief exactly, but not too bad. And so we did that episode first, but you know, today we had to change things up because I think we started with one of the most upsetting, bizarre stories

we could think of. I think everybody was left clutching their groins feeling a little weirder after that episode ended. I kind of hope you were. Yeah, yeah, that one was a freaky one. But so we decided we kind of go the other direction. After sitting with that all weekend, it's time to do something maybe a little sweeter, Yes, totally. And y'all know when it comes to romance, you know, sometimes years go by before you realize you're the right

you know you're with the right person. It's like your best friend or like you hated a guy, and then like over time, it's enemies to lover's kind of thing. We're still getting there, are out, we're you know, one day, we've been married a few years. I'm starting to think this might turn into something. But sometimes you meet someone, you catch their eye across the room, you touch hands over a salad bar, you nearly run them over with your car. Whatever the story is, but just in an instant,

you know, you know what I mean. And we've had like a few stories come our way over the past couple of years about couples who were just clearly meant to be. Either they overcame years of strife, or they met randomly and they took a chance, or it seems that they dreamed their loved one into existence. So we thought we would just collect them all into a little goodie bag for y'all today. Um so go brush your teeth or check that insulin monitor. Is this about to

get real sweet in here? Hey? Their French come listen well, Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. There's no matchmaking, no romantic tips. It's just about particulars. This relationship a love. It might be any type of version at all, and abstract cons and draw a concrete wall. But if there's a story, were a second glance, ridiculous role vance the production of I Heart Radio. Our first story is a strong argument for public transit. It begins on Christmas Day

and Linda Wegner is riding the train. I would love to fall in love with public transit, and I here in Atlanta. I'm just not given the chance, I know, right, although we have been too many places where I fell in love deeply with the public transmitting. It's like an out of town fling. It's like going to a conference and the train system. I know, I want to meet my soul train right here at home. Well, anyway, Linda

Wegner was riding the train on Christmas Day. Now, Linda had a couple of daughters, but they usually spent Christmas with her ex husband, so she was alone on Christmas. And Linda doesn't really mind this because she's Jewish, so she's like whatever, Christmas Day, moving on. But she did feel kind of lonely, so she decided to take the train from New York's Grand Central station upstate to Katona

to spend the day with her sister's family. Probably a beautiful part of the country, I mean upstate New York. It's gorgeous. I know, this might actually be a nice train ride. Yeah, I'm sure it would. Now, Linda had a really great job working in marketing for a nonprofit, so she had a great career, was a purposeful career. She felt pretty satisfied with her life, but she told CNN that on that day. Quote, I might have been a little wistful. She might have been a little open

to some magic on that day. You know, whist can take your magical places. I can also get you in trouble. Can you be whistless? I have been wistless. If I've been wistful, I know that I've been whistless as well. I had just the right amount of whiskey. Yeah. I like to hover in like a whist, mid kind of range, mid whist. I feel midwist today. I'm a midwistern kind of girl. Open all right. So she's on this train and a man who's about her age sat opposite her,

and he started spreading out wallpaper samples. See another great project you can do on the train that you cannot do when you're driving. That's true. That's true. Although if I'm sitting in a little booth on the train and somebody comes in and bust out their whole portfolio of textile swatches, can I get a little space? Anyway? She thought that this guy might strike up a friendly conversation, but he was just totally absorbed in his wallpaper samples.

And then he pulled out this very intricate print, and Linda recognized the pattern. So she's like, Okay, well maybe i'll break the ice here with this stranger who seems to be ignoring me. She says, hey, is that a William Morris print? Because now Linda she knows her wallpaper right. Well, this guy looks up and he smiled. He's like, uh, yeah, it is a William Morris print. You really know your stuff.

His name was Michael mctwiggen, and he was a former art critic and his friend had asked him to choose a wallpaper print that matched the paint color in her apartment. And he's like, no problem. I'm about to be on a long train ride. I can go through every wallpaper sample. There is something perfect. This guy had been separated from his wife for about a year or so. He was in his sixties, and he was on his way to Katona to feed the homeless for Christmas. Oh my god,

it's beautiful. Yeah, beautiful. I hope he wasn't feeding a wallpaper sample. And he's like, this is what I brought you, some paste. No, I think he was just going to feed him the food whatever, whatever the shelter probably had for him to spoon out. Now, Michael was surprised that Linda recognized this print until she explained that she had been an art history major in college. Oh my god, I was an art history miner in the college. I

may one day finish um degree. I almost got. It's really nice to know that someone, at some point, for some reason, was able to use their art history major for something, right, even if just four years of college. And I was finally able to strike up one conversation that led to a beautiful love story. Yes, stay in school kids. So yeah, he's like, oh, that's cool. I used to be an art critic, but now you know, I work in marketing. And she's like, that's funny. I

work in marketing. Um, and she worked for a large lung cancer research charity. Because she was talking about like her kind of selfless work in a nonprofit. In this hour long trip, they just chatted away. They completely clicked. They discovered they had a lot in common. They both loved art. You know, they had similar careers in marketing. They had an interest in helping others, like the drive to serve the world. I mean, it almost sounds like

they're like trying to one up each other. Conversation. Oh I'm just going north to feed the homeless for Christmas. Oh yeah, well, I work in lung cancer research charity. I helped raise millions of dollars last year for lung cancers. Yeah, Linda told CNN. Quote when he told me what he was doing feeding the homeless, I said, Oh my god, that's got to be the best character reference I have ever had, right, I mean, somebody going to do something

so unselfish on Christmas Day. Michael was also very taken with Linda. He said that, you know, she didn't downplay her career, but she did focus more on her connections with other people rather than her own achievements. He told CNN that she was quote sensitive and intuitive in the sense of being aware of other people's feelings or moods or whatever, and open to understanding what other people are feeling. She put people first somehow that was more important than

anything else. I could see that. Yeah, But I mean, like, they're both people who want to serve other people. And if you meet someone who's like, I'm here to serve other people, but all they do is talk about how great they are, it's kind of like, are you how are you just trying to feel like a good person in the world, right, I mean, if if it means you do good stuff, I'm not sure I really care. But you can see where it comes from a really

sincere place. It's true. I have long said that I don't mind people talking about their charitable contributions or things they're doing. Like I know, it feels a little braggadocious, but I also think that it perpetuates the behavior, Like if some celebrity comes out it's like, I gave a bunch of money into this charity. You know, cool? Are you not sort of showing people that that's something they should be doing, or setting an example or being a

role model in some way. I mean, there's definitely a way you can do it, but I don't I wouldn't mind if a friend came up to me and was just like, you know what I did today, I gave a bunch of money to a charity. I'd be like, man, that's awesome. Good for you. I feel like, yeah, you're making yourself look better. But why is that a bad thing? I know, Well, it's sort of like people like positive reinforcement. It's just something ingrained in us. It's not necessarily bad

or good. It can be either, but why not use it? You know, speaking as a nonprofit person, I'm happy to be like, this person is amazing. They gave me fifty bucks, like, you know, because it is amazing. Fifty bucks can go a long way. So and wouldn't you want that person walking around town telling everyone I gave the Fringe Festival fifty bucks. Right. I feel good about myself today. That's a good thing. People who feel good do good. I mean in terms of just being a you know, not

a misery people. People don't hesitate to tell me something they did that has no bearing on the world whatsoever at all. But everyone's like real yeah, like Trombone Champ, but everyone's real hesitant to talk about their contributions because it's like taboo to say you gave money. Doesn't like, get over it, just say it, own it. Own it. Well, Linda and Michael said it, and they talked NonStop the entire way to Katona, and they realized that they actually

really enjoyed each other's company. Linda said that she could feel like there was something between them that was worth exploring, so as they walked out of the train station, she slipped him her her business card. Yes girl, and then as they went to shake hands, Michael reached a little further up Linda's arm and held it for a lingering moment. Well he looked in her eyes, smiled and said, good to meet you, and Linda said, quote I definitely got

flutters from that. I mean, listen, Michael is in his sixties. Yeah, he knows what to do. That's nice to hear. Though it's just such a It's not a sexual touch at all, but it was enough that she was like, Oh, he's into me, like he's interested. You know, sometimes that makes you It's funny because my first thought when he reached further up her arm was that it was like the the old Viking handshake, or you grabbed their foe arms. Do you have any daggers up here? Which I think

we should bring back? First of all, it's a great handshake. Second of all, yeah, I want to check if you have any daggers up there. I don't know you might have daggers. Linda didn't have any daggers. Michael was like, all right, this could be the one that said She was quote buzzing with excitement over meeting him, and Michael says, quote, I definitely wanted to see Linda again. There was not a doubt in my mind. So over the holidays they exchanged a few emails and Michael suggested that they get

together in New York. The next time they were both in the city, and he was like, Hey, why don't we go see this storytelling show, The moth Um. That's a very popular storytelling show, and that's such a great idea for a unique first state. I'm biased because I like art events, but I think that's such a great idea. Um.

After that they went on a few other dates. They went to one where it was like an experimental music show that Linda jokes was very awkward because quote, we didn't know each other well enough to say this is really horrible right away, which I love because stuff They're both standing there trying to look like you're having a good time. Love it. And then finally one of them had to be like, do you want to get down

of your missiles at my speed? You know? But then they went dancing at a jazz club and that completely broke the ice. Both of them had been married before, so they didn't really want to have a whole lot of expectations, right They've seen what can happen and if you get into the wrong relationship. They told CNN that they just took it day by day. Michael says that they both quote knew the perils of choosing wrong, don't.

We all haven't Vietnam flashbacks dating Vietnam. I don't. But Linda says, quote, we were both happy together a lot, which is something we hadn't had in a long time, both of us. A lot of happiness that gets very addictive. She said, it just felt easy too. They even liked each other's friends and families, which is that's hard to find. That is a good thing. I'm very That's something I really like about us is we already had all the same friends and uh and we we both really liked

each other's families. And I have to say so because some of them listening to the show, right, don't let them know, no, But that is I mean, I some people have mother in law stories that I'm like, and I'm so glad we don't. Either of us have a mother in law. We're very lucky with our in laws. I really my heart hurts for people who can't get along with their in laws, because this is the person

you love and that's their family. You want to obviously have a connection there, but sometimes it ain't easy and it's hard to because sometimes people are like, well, you got to choose me over your mom or whatever, and I think that's really hard to ask someone to do. I mean, I understand it if if the mom is being crazy or like unreasonable, and there's plenty of stories where they definitely a stepping but you're like, that's their mom.

I mean, sometimes your mom knows best and she like that person for a reason, right, and maybe maybe you're a little blinded anyway, anyway, not for us to say no relate, no matchmaking or romantic tips. So that's right to take it to Reddit. So that very year, they boarded the train to Katona together for Christmas to visit Linda's family, and they had someone take a photo of them, and that became a tradition for a few years. They would just take this train to Katona, somebody take a picture.

And then they moved to Connecticut and they totally loved it there. Connecticut gorgeous. I love driving through Connecticut. But the only drawback is they don't need to take the train anymore on Christmas. They're close enough to Katona that they can just drive now. Linda and Michael got married at their home with tons of friends and family around, and in her vows, Linda celebrated, quote the Christmas miracle

for a Jewish girl that had brought him to her. Uh, they say, everyone they know just loves the story about how they got together because magical coincidences, can you know, connections and stuff like that always make for a great story. Um though, Linda laughs a little about it. She says, quote, I mean we didn't meet in Paris. We met on Metro North, a commuter train, but it did the tricks Like It's not a Netflix like storybook romance or whatever. Look,

love comes in strange places. It can look like all sorts of things exactly. Now they've been together for ten years, they're going strong. So next time you're on the train, keep your eyes peeled because your soul mate could be right across the way looking through some wallpaper samples waiting

for you. I should be less judgmental samples. Well, yeah, if I saw someone across me looking at wallpaper samples, I'd be like, whoa, this is a boring Oh my god, and you want have missed out on cool Michael hard stuff. I guess it would depend on the samples. If they were looking at some like really crazy funky patterns and maybe like, yes, let's talk is. But if it's like right, beige, tope, Khaki, I'm like, oh my god, well that is a beautiful story. Though, yes,

that's a cute one. I love that love people just taking a chance. I mean again, she was just like, let me talk to this stranger and probably didn't expect anything more than a couple of minutes conversation, maybe a nice passing of the time they got off the train. She ends up with the soul mate. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. They could make a movie about or or a book about her about their story, and it could

be called The Girl on the Train. They could just immediately give people sweet, loving, heavy feelings, right I think, alright, uh yeah, I think it's not sweet, but I'm not seen it myself, so maybe this Uh, let us take a quick break when we come back. We're going to talk about an artist who seemed to know who the love of his life was long before he ever even laid eyes on her. And we'll be right back right

after this. Welcome back everyone, Okay, So Next up, we've got the story of an Iranian artist named Ahad Sadi. The Anna loud Old Gallery has a little bio about him on their website. He was born in night in Tehran and his dad was an important textile and carpet merchants. Were back to the textiles again, I guess that's the through line of this story, wallpapers carpets. Well, Ahad apparently liked playing with fire when he was a kid, quite literally, so his parents tried to keep him away from it,

little little baby pyromaniac. But this ended up being the key to his own unique style of artwork because one day he was messing around with fire like you do, and he sort of accidentally burned some pieces of cloth belonging to his mother together and he noticed that once they were burnt, these textiles would stick to each other. And in the years since then, he has developed this into a technique that he perfected called Azarnagari, which basically

means painting with fire. So what it is is like, instead of painting with glue, he sticks small pieces of fabric to each they're using fire basically melting them together and creating these beautiful motifs. It's really intricate patterns. He calls it a modernization of classic Persian illuminations. It's very beautiful. Will Will link to his instagram. Uh, there's a lot of really very delicate, colorful patterns going on. I imagine it was going to be you know, scorched, but it's not.

It's really just the fire just sort of bonds these fabrics together to create these really cool patterns. Yeah, it's very colorful and very beautiful. I love it. I definitely was like scrolling his instagram, like, okay, I would buy this and kind of three D because it's you know, out of paint, so it just pops off the page and just a different way. It's really cool. Sod's art career is going great, right. He came up with a totally new thing. It marries all his interest fire art,

textile sees into it. But he is still single and his mother was kind of from the pressure on him to get married. She's like, she kept being like, hard, do you have a lover yet? Dinner time alone again, it's Friday night, you got no date? My son has no game. She just keeps talking about him not having nobody special in his life. But he said in an interview quote, I believed a lot in love, true love. So he wasn't just going to get with like just

anyone to get his mom's back. You know. He's like, I only want to spend my time make an art or with the person of my dreams. So in Tune thousand eight, he decided to do art about this problem. He used his fabric technique to create a portrait of his dream girl. And she's very beautiful. She's dark, striking eyes and long, dark curly hair and very strong features. She looks like she's kind of looking out of the portrait like come say something to me. And she's got

a real personality. He didn't. He didn't painted die away kind of female at all. Um and his mom came up to him while he's working on it, and he told her, you know, mom, this is the woman that I want. This is who I'm waiting for. And his mother responded, quote, may God give life to her, may she be yours, Like whatever it takes get me a granddad, I hope she just steps out of the painting right

now and immediately becomes so. A year later, Ahad was preparing to exhibit several pieces of his art at a gallery into Breeze Iran, just his last show before he moved to Istanbul, and he included this dream girl portrait in the selection. So Parissa Karazad is also an artist. She's a painter and a photographer as well. And in two thousand nine, she was dating this guy who wanted to go to this art exhibit and she wasn't really that interested in this exhibit, but she's like, all right, fine,

whatever you want to do, we'll go. So she walks into this gallery and there's a lot of people crowded around had since he was the artist, including a Hadds sister. The moment Parissa entered the room, had sister poked him in the arm and said, quote, had that girl walking through the door looks like the painting you did? And she was not the only one to say so. Parissa and her boyfriend got the portrait and she said, quote,

we froze. I felt a strange closeness. I turned to my boyfriend and asked, does this portrait look like me? And the boyfriend was like kind of, and he walked off to look at something else. Damn, this guy sucks. He's like whatever, he's gotta be the like bad boyfriend in the rom com. You know, everything he does is like obviously the worst option, right, He's like, yeah, I guess anyway, I gotta take this call. But Parissa was stuck by this portrait and it does look a lot

like her. We will definitely put on our Instagram. Yes, this side by side, because it's pretty striking. It's crazy. She said. She felt like the portrait was quote a near perfect reflection of her own dark eyes, her long, curly hair, and her strong features. So the very next day she's telling a friend about this. She's like, I went to this gallery and this guy's got a portrait of me, but we've never met. And the friend was

quote more excited than I was. So she's like, we gotta go to this EXHIBI have to show me this thing. And so they went and her friend took one look at the portrait and said, quote, I don't know what the story of this painting is, but this man is madly in love with you. And she was not wrong, because as soon as he saw her for the first time, Ahd was a gonner. He like handed his heart over to her on a platter. He even invited Parissa to his workshop to take pictures of his artwork because I

guess he found out she was a photographer. But police, I know, he's like, oh, this is a good way to get in with you. But Parissa came with her mother, so he's like, well, I guess I won't try to mac on you right now. You're standing right here, right, so nice to meet you. Well, at least had had her Facebook information, but theressa like me these days, it was just never on Facebook for her. Every time I open it, I just get depressed. What is the point, Like,

screw this social media game? Piously anyway. For eighteen months, had said that he checked social media every night, hoping that she would be on so he could start a conversation, which I mean to me, I'm like, you can send a message when she's not there, then she'll see it when she does log on and message you back. That's how she might get a notification and they choose to open. It's possible, but he was just like, no, I want to live chat or nothing. It's yeah, I mean an

immediate response. Maybe he was like, if if I send it and I don't know if she's going to see it, then I'll get real, you know what? I mean discourage before I know for sure nobody wants to be left on red. God, that's so true. You're just going to see those dots pop up for a few seconds and then go away for six months. Cuts deep. It kept me deep, all right, I get it. I get it well. Then one magical night he checked on Facebook. He did not see that she was active, so he went to bed.

But he just had this feeling something eaten in him, that that Facebook addiction that gets into your brain was telling him, Now, get that gun. You gotta go check God. So he did. He opens up the app again and boom, Parissa was online. She says it was Valentine's Day, which is also her birthday. Crazy enough, and so she had jumped on to Facebook to thank everyone for their birthday wishes.

A had immediately reached out with one of the great pickup lines, Hello just you know, sometimes it's all hello, hello you, She responds, and he asked her where she was. He was in a standball holding an art shibition. Well, it turns out Barissa was also an is stand ball, and she agreed to meet him at his exhibit and have some dinner. The coincidences in this story azing not to mention, I'm sorry if you paint a girl and then she walks into your gallery and her birthday is

Valentine's Day, Like, I'm sorry, this is you. You magically did create this woman into existence. I'm sorry, Parissa. I'm sure you had a very full life before all this, but I also kind of think you just appeared out of a pink cloud of glitter. All your memories were implanted, Like, yeah, you didn't exist before this painting. I'm sorry, You're You're a magical creation, the mystical manifestation of true love. That's all I can figure here. Well, no wonder she's a

good artist, yew, Parista says. When she arrived to this date, she knows she stretches out her hand to shake because they don't know each other yet, but a had took her into his arms and hugged her really tight lee and whispered, quote, you don't know how much I love you. Oh wow, he really one upped. Michael's great to meet you. I know, maybe he should learn a little risk trick, because I feel like that might be a little like

a coming on strong. Speaking of even though they've only seen each other twice, he proposed to her over dinner, like right there on their first day. He's like, okay, I'm in I see that because he's been in love with her, I mean sort of when he painted her, but at least for eighteen months, he's been trying real hard to get her. So he's just like, whatever, I just want you around all the time. And again the signs, I mean a woman, she appears in your gallery when

you're showing off this painting. Her birthday is Valentine's Day. She's got the cartoon birds floating around her, singing kiss the girl like it's come on. He's like one or all of the gods one this. So, of course Paris is like, yeah, oh okay, um, that's sort of a big question. Can I have a month to think about it? And he said, quote, Parissa, you can only give me one answer, and that is yes. Okay. Now my Western ears kind of read that, and I was like, I

can give you whatever answer I want. I got a little contrary, but I don't think that's what he meant by that. I don't think he was trying to be like, you can only give me one answer. I think he was trying to say, like, there's only one answer. That's this is real and true, and there's really only one answer, and I don't care how long I have to wait for it. It's yes, but I will wait as long

as I have to wait. And Parissa, I think, agrees with me, because she says she only ever quote felt a deeply beautiful feeling from a hod so not like a coercive, you know, overpowering kind of energy. So she went home from this date, and she's thinking about this proposal. She's thinking about this painting that looks eerily like her. She's probably think about all the things they have in common because they're both artists, you know, they're both from Iran.

They're both living in a a stanbowl now, and it's just again a lot of coincidences, a lot of commonalities. And the very next morning she called him up and accepted his proposal. She said yes, quote, thus began my beautiful life with a hod I am so happy. A Hodd is the greatest gift given to me by God. Now Parissa's mother was understandably, you know, kind of like, excuse me, excuse me. You're marrying a man you met twice in your life. He proposed you at the first dinner come

up very very frozen vibes. Right, else is like, anna, excuse me. Right. But when Parissa explained how they met and how long a had had been trying to get in touch with her, plus the fact that you know she very recently manifested into the world because of this painting, her mother quote side in relief and was deeply touched by the story. And of course a Hodd's mother was thrilled. She's like, oh my god, it came true. The woman stepped out of your painting, and now I'm getting a

daughter in law. She's like, whoever it is, I don't care. So Ahad and Parissa both say that meeting each other was one of the greatest moments of their lives and they have never been happier. That's right. And if you go on their instagrams you can see all of her art. She does really cool like multimedia paintings and then she'll take a big picture, like a cool picture in front of it. Anyway, just really cool stuff. So check them out.

It's really cool stuff. I once um made a collage of the woman I thought I was going to marry, because you know, it was there was a good art form for me as a teenager, I couldn't draw, so I would do collages and stuff. So I got into a Vogue magazine and I decided to build the Perfect Woman, which was just cutting out one picture of Angelina Jolie and gluing it to my wall. I don't think I manifested her into existence. But she hasn't showed up at my art gallery yet. Wow. Yet, hold onto hoping. I'm

always holding on the hope Angelina. She's not a brad anymore, she's not her daughter us to Spellman. So sometimes she's in town. So this is your coincidence that sometimes she's in Atlanta. It's only a matter of time. Well, I guess I can't wait to be divorced. I don't know. Come on, we've done this show long enough to know that there are many solutions here. That's true. We can have a harem situation. I bet you and Angelina would spend time just together without me, even to have a

great time. I'm sure we would. Yeah, we could. We could get along, go to the gym together. I don't think of something else. I don't think it's something else to do with Angelina. So yeah, I mean, I just love that story. I think that's so cool. How weird too to be a hod like oh yeah, glad handing some like art dealers. And then he looks up and he's like the woman I painted is here, and then you like go check your portrait, like thinking there's no one in there, and you are like frame, it's like

an eighties movie. Yeah, it's a weird science like she literally yeahd in or something. Um, can I get cynical sure speculation station? I mean, is there a way that a hot had ever seen her before? And like try to set this whole thing up like, oh, I'd never I just imagined you whoa we must be meant to

be together under proposed immediately. I mean, I guess it's not impossible because they were both artists in Iran, so maybe there was some kind of like art show where they crossed paths and he's like, that lady is super hot. I'm gonna paint her. I'm going to set up a scheme wherein I paint her and then convince her that I magically created her, well or less cynically. He did see her, and he's like, now that's the kind of girls. So then he painted her and then she showed up

and he's like, oh my gosh, it's that girl. More likely and sweet for sure, sweeter than yours, not as sweet as this one, like mid sweet, there go again, Midwstern. It reminds me of the end of fifty First Dates. Alexander shows up and she of course has been painting him all this time because she doesn't remember having met him. Um, so maybe just forgot that he ever saw her. I guess that's possible. I kind of like the magical nous of this story. Yes, that he just had a woman

in mind, and there happened. She happened to be out there waiting for him, rode in on a unicorn. It's incredible. It's really an amazing story. Artists getting together can be disastrous or it can be, you know, really beneficial. Yeah,

and I don't know everything. I don't know them, but it does seem that they both really appreciate each other's art, and they try to encourage each other's art work, and they're always like exhibiting and then like on her Instagram, she's like, look at my sexy husband and his cool art, and he's like, look at my wife and her awesome art.

You know, like seem really supportive instead of like, as you say, sometimes it can be disastrous where you have a lot of ego at play and one or the others like you need to be smaller so that I can be the big one. That happens, for sure. Other times people just thrive better with more of an opposite person, you know. I mean, I know how many artists do

we know? Actors, painters, whatever, dancers who marry an accountant or you know, a restaurateur or something, and and and that's better for them than being full time with someone else who you know that you want that contrast more than just constantly the two of you speak in the same language all the time. For some people, that's you know, intolerable, which I can understand too, but not for us, fortunately, No, you need to understand. Yeah, exactly, how need you to

get this? Because both of us were like, let's try and marry ourselves. Let's try and marry I want I don't want to marry someone who's basically exactly like me, but a pretty lady. Yeah. Well, anyway, that was a beautiful story. It was. So maybe your collage, your next collage or project could manifest perfect partner for you. Or at least so get it out of your system one

way or the other. Art is good. Pop on a train and hate yourself, or make a collage out of wallpaper samples of your perfect partner and maybe they'll just appear. But we have one more story for you, and this one is really cute because it's about some people who found each other after sixty years apart. And we will get right to that right after this. Welcome back, lovers, and here come the water works, because we are about to tell you about Boris and Anna Koslov. That's right now.

Back during World War two, to cast your mind on back to the forties, Boris was the secretary of the Young Communists Party in Russia and he had to give a speech in the town square and Borov Leonka, which was a village in Siberia. And I'm probably saying that wrong. Could very cold. I know, if people live in Siberia, they just lived there, which I mean sounds like a dumb thing to say, because Siberia is really really big, But in my mind, it's just a tundra, like a

frozen tundra that no one can live in. It's very sparsely populated. It's it's like that, and like Northern Australia, Like don't you don't live in most of those places, right, But there are people who lived there, and these were two of them. And Anna attended this speech along with a group of her friends. But Boris only had eyes for Anna as if she was standing in a spotlight. He says, quote, she was too beautiful for words amazing.

So after his speech, you know, of course he had to go find her, talk to her, try to try to lock this down. But Anna wasn't really the best choice of bride for a young Communist because her father had been purged by Stalin before the war for refusing to work on a collective farm, so her family just didn't have a great reputation with the Communist Party. I can't promise that I would not refuse to work on a collective farm. I'm pretty sure I would refuse to

recoa a farmer. That's I don't know if he was a farmer already, but I'm not a farmer. Like, no, thank you. Let me just say that I'm grateful to not have to refuse to work on a collective farm. Now, Boris did not care about any of this stuff. He says quote, I loved her and would always defend her. So when I guess when other young communists were like, we look at these traders, he'd be like, shut up now. Happy news dot Com says that the romance blossomed through

the war. Every time Boris came home from the front, Anna was waiting for him with a smile and a kiss. And finally, in ninety six, they were married in a small ceremony. For only three days they lived in this newly wed bliss, and then Boris had to return to his army unit. After the atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Russia was extra on their guard about America and they were still fighting to keep control of Germany

and the Soviet block. So off Boris went to do his you know, national duty, be a duty, while Anna stay at home to hold down the hearth, just like any good army wife, you know. But instead, honest family was classed as enemies of the state. This isn't detailed in any of the articles that we found, but we're sort of assuming that this is probably since her dad had already been purged, they just decided, you know, his

whole family was guilty. By association. So it could be that, or maybe Anna or someone in her family had been found with just you know, the wrong books in their bag, or maybe they were discovered to have attended a Menshevik meeting before the Bolsheviks took over. Any number of things could have gotten them in big trouble. I know there was kind of a time when it was very hard to do the right thing ye teams, at least from

my my perspective. Right. So, whatever the reason, Anna and her family were forced into internal exile, just somewhere else in Siberia, which of course is very big. To find someone there not easy to find someone. So when Boris came home from the front this time, he discovered an empty house, no beautiful wife waiting his safe return. Nothing, And he said in an interview quote, she was always smiling for me when I came home, but this time there was no sign of her. Nobody knew where they

were or what happened to Anna. That's how we lost track of each other. And Boris was frantic. He was doing everything he could to track her down but had no success. And Anna was heartbroken too. She says, quote, I threatened to commit suicide rather than go because I couldn't live without him. But in the end I was forced to go. It was the most miserable time of my life. Man. This was made even worse by both their families insisting that they needed to remarry, especially Anna.

Her mother insisted that Boris had forgotten all about her and probably married someone else already and that why he never wrote. But Anna Ana was like, hell, no, not my Boris. He's out there waiting for me. She refused to believe that he remarried, but she said, quote, one day I got back home from work at a timber plant and my mother had burned all boris Is early letters, his poems, pictures, including our wedding pictures. That's not a

mother in law that I want. This seems cold, Not to make a Siberia joke, but like, that's so upsetting. I can see why the mom might feel like it was the right move to get her daughter to like let go of this past man or whatever. But ouch, I'm like, that's my wedding photo, and especially back in the day, it's not like you had a billion waiting on the cloud or something. No, I mean I get you know again, an older mother in Siberia post World War two, she's seen some ship, and she probably does

firmly believe like, look, I've seen this before. You are never going to see this man again, right, you know, so I can see. Yeah, she's really just trying to detach her from these memories so that she can still live a full and happy life. And she's also like, I know the way of the world, you need a man, sad, but true, you need to be married or else you're not going to be taken care of. But it feels

so cruel and unsentimental, you know. But but I'm sure that's you know, that the mentality she had to keep the survived too, so it's tough. Anna also said that it was her mother who refused to let her leave a forwarding address for Boris, So I don't know, like maybe her family were just like liberal democrat types they didn't want a young Communist in the family, or maybe her mom just hated army guys. You know. She's like, oh,

so sick of stalling and all is damn military. I don't want to single one of them around, right, I'm sick of this ship. I see another uniform. Just get Boris out of my house. If I see Boris, I turned him to burst. Anna told Happy News that her mother quote told me this other man was coming to meet me and that I should go out with him, and if I was lucky, he'd marry me. I burst into tears and rushed into the yard. The world turned

black for me. She said that she even took a clothes line out to the hayloft, intending to hang herself, but her mother quote came in and slapped me in the face and told me not to be so stupid. And she was persuaded into going out with this man and the fed and eventually he and her mother convinced her to marry him. Man, this mom is tough. Yeah, yeah, she's doing that tough love thing, Like she's really trying trying to save you. Like, you don't have to kill yourself.

I know that you're sad about this guy, but you gotta do something else. You got one life, and the years are taken own by now. Boris also eventually got remarried. Um doesn't say whether he needed his mom to have a mana um, but even so Boris and Anna never forgot each other. Anna had a son with Nafed, her new husband. Um Boris actually wrote a book dedicated to

his young wife Anna. But this is kind of where the articles I'll skip over some really interesting details, and I wish I was there to ask them some damn questions, because according to one article, Boris quote even spent time in prison at some points. But why where what this book is called? Whether it was ever published or if he just wrote it and had it like hanging out in a drawer somewhere. Nothing, no info the best part exactly Come on, now, why did you put the prison?

But anyway, oh well, I guess the main takeaway of the story is that Boris and Anna tried to move on. They really did, but they really couldn't. Their hearts still belonged to each other even though they couldn't be together now. Eventually, over the years, both of their spouses passed away, and Anna tragically lost her son as well, very sadly. So she's lost so many people. She's a really hard life. And maybe she would find some happiness when the fed

is possible, you know, even if she did a great start. Yeah. Well, and even if she did, he died too, leaving her alone and then her child dies like that. You know, she's really just lost so much. And that's I was gonna say, that's on top of just living in Siberia, which I feel like our perfect because she lives transplanted into Siberia would be hard enough. And then to also

be like just hit with tragedy constantly, so brutal. But then in two thousand seven, after more than sixty years apart, Anna and Boris both decided to revisit some old memories. Anna was able to go home now that the Soviet Union had been toppled, and Boris wanted to go back to his hometown to visit his parents graves. When he stepped out of the car, he saw a woman standing outside of the house where they had lived for three

days as a married couple. It was Anna. Anna looked up and saw him too, and she said, quote, I thought my eyes were playing games with me. I saw this familiar looking man approaching me, his eyes gazing at me. My heart jumped. I knew it was him. I was crying with joy. Oh my god. Boris ran up to her and said, quote, my darling, I've been waiting for you for so long, my wife, my life. He said that despite the decades, quote, I felt the same I

couldn't take my eyes off her. Yes, I had loved other women when we were separated, but she was the true love of my life. God, this scene in the movie, I'd be like, she's standing there and they're really old. But when you know, like I think they were like a D two when you shoot it in the movie, when they see each other, they look the same age as they have to. Yeah, you'd have to like flash back. I don't see you any differently young. It's like no

time has passed. But it is amazing to see just how different they do look and they still recognize like like that, it's like heart recognizes another reference to fifty first dates. I guess now Boris immediately a little hot in him because he immediately suggested they get married again. He's like, let's do this. But Anna was more hesitant. She suggested that they just lived together for the rest of their lives because, according to her quote, what's the point.

I mean, maybe her two weddings just like stressed her out so much that she had lost faith in the entire institution. But Boris talked her around and they got married again. And Anna says, quote, I never thought I'd be a bride at my age, but it was my happiest wedding. Yeah, eighty two years old. And they claim him that they had not had a single argument since

they found one another. Again, Boris says, quote, we've just been parted for so long, and who knows how much time is left for us, So we don't want to lose time on arguing, absolutely, which is a beautiful sentiment. I love that. I mean, I God, some people love fighting, and I eight it. It's such a waste of time. I'm always just like fast forward to when this is done. I know that at a certain point this won't matter anymore. It's like, can we just skip to that, because like

it sucks. I mean, sometimes you have to, but it's very frustrating, and I love this idea, just like we know that, like we know what it's like to only have someone for three days. What if one of those whole days had been us fighting? And maybe it was and they don't say, but you know, maybe even the morning he left that last day, she was like, I'm sick of how late you are coming in. He's like, shut up. And then they were like they had sixty

years to regret, but probably not. It sounded like they were very much in their newly wed bliss period and we could not find anything wrong with the other. Um. So it's kind of beautiful in a way that they had to newly weds periods in a way. And I also going back to her very very tough mom, very glad she came out and slapped her face and said, don't kill yourself because look at this. She's she hung on tight and she got her happy ending in the end.

So sometimes you just gotta it's so hard, but sometimes just gotta hang on through those really dark times and there's something so beautiful on the other end. Just crazy story sixty years apart and it was like not a day had gone by. I think that is so beautiful. And it's just like your heart connecting over the years and over like just not mattering, you know. I just

and I can't relate to that kind of memory. I mean, sometimes you're in the bathroom for five minutes, We'll come back out and I'm like, I know your face is that you do we've met, right, we have that you're something to me. I feel like, are you trying to say it's been too long in the bathroom, because I feel like there's a hidden message messages. My memory is like I can't even remember. There's an animal. I think people say has a bad memory, but I forgot what

it was. Well, there you go. We get a newlywed every day, every day, get you a man with a memory like a goldfish, and it'll be like the first day, every day, I'm Drew Barrymore first day. It's basically, Oh, shout out to Toss Popcorn for doing that episode was so funny. They had a great one this week on Clockwork Orange. If you yes, they're so funny. Well, hopefully these three stories restored your faith in true love and

romance and humanity and chance encounters. Yeah, and wallpaper and wall paper and textiles, because surely whatever we do next, we'll ruin it for you again. You would like to build you up and then tear your back down. That's the ridiculous romance promise. Yeah. I like to think we keep a decent balance of you know, horrific relationships and sweet ones. You know, I think we do mostly for our own mental health. It could be hard to live

with some of these people during the research period. Definitely, this one's nice. You're just like, oh, sometimes things work out right, And if this is too sweet for you and you want to go check out an older episode that's kind of in the opposite direction. Find like Linda and Bert Poogashuh, We're Simon Parks and the Alien Cat, Queen Friend and Dolly Oster Reek. Goodness, those are some good episodes about some folks. You know you don't want

to spend time. I don't know, maybe don't know the meaning of love, certainly on a different idea than the rest of us love and romance. Yeah, but if you did enjoy this story, please reach out to us and tell us what you thought. Maybe if you had a chance encounter in your life, you met someone on the train, if you painted a girl into existence, especially seriously, I would commission you to do some work for us. Yeah,

we got some dreams we'd like to seek. Yeah, could you paint me a big pilot cash, here's my dream house. I wanted you to paint all the inside and outside. No, but reach out to us through email. It's predict Romance at gmail dot com. That's right. You can find us on social media. I'm at O Great It's Eli on Twitter and Instagram, and I'm Dianamite boom. The show is at pridict Romance on both those platforms, and find us at Ridiculous Romance on TikTok as well. And you are awesome.

Thank you so much for spending time with us today. We hope you enjoyed the stories and we'll see you next time. All right, bye bye, so long friends, it's time to go. Thanks so listening to our show. Tell your friends name's uncles in this to listen to a show Ridiculous Rollmance