Pity!

Thirty years ago my husband and I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to Germany for about 4 weeks and while there we traveled to Paris, France for a couple of days.  Among the many remarkable sites we visited, the Tour Montparnasse building is one of our favorite memories and an experience we still talk about.  Seeing the building itself and the fabulous view is not what we relate, although all that was amazing.  But instead our tale focuses back on the conversation we had with the elevator guard and his few words spoken to us.  

The Tour Montparnasse, we read, was the tallest building in Paris and allowed a spectacular view..  You could buy tickets to the observation deck which was a few floors below the top of the building and for an additional charge you could also go up to the roof deck which of course was the top of the building.  We had decided we would be satisfied with the observation deck as I have a fear of heights and it sounded like it would be more enclosed than the roof.  So my husband bought the tickets to the observation deck, ...or so he thought.  None of us spoke French and the French people did not seem to us to appreciate Americans very much (an understatement), so we often had, um..."difficulties" with our interactions.

While standing in line waiting to take the elevator, my husband frustratingly figured out that what he had actually paid for were the more expensive tickets to both decks.  There was an Elevator Guard standing in front of the elevator so my husband approached him and tried to communicate that we had the wrong tickets and ask if we could exchange them.  The man, in a haughty manner, waved his hand towards the ticket counter.  Shortly after going back to the ticket counter, my husband returned unsuccessful in his attempt to exchange tickets.  He once again attempted to explain to the Elevator Guard (who seemed to understand some English) our dilemma, hoping, but not expecting that he might help.  While nodding towards the ticket counter hubby said “She wouldn’t exchange our tickets.”   The man, with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous smirk on his face, replied with his heavy French accent, “No? … Pity!”

So we made the best of the situation and visited both decks.  We found the roof top view to be incredible (even when standing as close to the middle and away from the ledges as possible – which is where I stayed the whole time).  It was an experience that we enjoyed and we were even happy in the end that we had the (semi-forced) opportunity to get to see both views.

Right now I am facing something that I would really rather not face.  Sometimes I  picture God, standing in heaven with the same twinkle in His eyes as the Elevator Guard.  And as I try to explain to God that “really - I don’t need to or want to go through this experience, I am fine with the view I already have”, I imagine Him flashing the same mischievous smile and I hear him lightheartedly, but lovingly, say (with a French accent lol)  “No?..... Pity!”