Found in Translation: Framing "Retrouvailles"

People come and go, and that’s one of the saddest truths in life. Even at our very interconnected age, distances can be measured from time, miles or simply with feelings or the lack thereof.

Sometimes it’s due to circumstance, a choice, or a work of destiny.

But here’s another truth: some people return to you. And after a very long time of being apart, whether by time or by heart, there is an immense joy. That is the feeling of retrouvailles.

In loose translation, retrouvailles simply refers to “reunion”. But for the French, according to Collins' Dictionary, the word means more than just reuniting with people. It’s the happiness one feels when they are reunited, after a very long time.

It’s simple, really. Retrouvailles happens all the time. Lovers who strayed from each other turn out to be soulmates, tied by a red string of fate. The first time they see each other again is like another honeymoon. It’s the smile and tears one makes at the airport when family members from overseas return home. The laughter and hand-holding of two estranged friends who happen to catch up by merely bumping across the street.

Retrouvailles describes that smile your whole body wears when you rediscover the love you yearned for.

2018-04-05 #culture #retrouvailles #found-in-translation