Chris and John have been together for 18 years, having met in an adult bookstore in 1994. John explains it quite succinctly, "We were both attracted to each other. Have sex. Talk later." When the smoke settled, John found himself very much attracted to Chris's intelligence, uncanny intuition and good judgment. He also defers to Chris and his European sensibilities on all matters of style, decor and fashion.
Chris, who is French, hails from the Celtic area of France known as Bretagne, or Brittany. Unlike the partners in other couples included in this project, he has fortunately experienced no problems with immigration and secured his US citizenship five years ago. He is still very close with his family and returns yearly to France to visit his sisters. Occasionally John travels with him, but they often take separate vacations as well. In addition to their lovely Philadelphia home, they own property in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
John credits the fact that they are very, very different as a reason they have stayed together for so long. "It's a positive thing. I am social; Chris is the quiet one. I cook; he cleans up. He's the philosopher; I'm the doer. We complement each other."
They have been riding motorcycles together for 12 years. At first Chris was very apprehensive, but they took a training course and decided that since they were not the least bit interested in golf, it was something they could do together as they got older. Now they are avid bikers. They take several short trips and one long trip every year on the bikes. They have traveled to Nova Scotia, the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and Quebec, for example, and this year their adventure will be traveling along Route 6 in Northern Pennsylvania for a week. John explains that they are "very in tune with each other on the bikes. I know what he's going to do before he does it." There's a synergy there that has to be felt more than explained. As I sat on one of their bikes after the photo shoot and felt the power of the machine, their passion became clearer to me.