Mr & Mrs!

Guess what?!

We were married (!!!) on a beautiful sunny afternoon, in front of a friendly couple from Israel. I'd found a $20 dress at the gift shop next to our hotel; D wore his black cargo shorts ; ) Afterwards we toasted each other a hundred stories above the city, in Stratosphere's Level 107 lounge.

The dress.

This is our 10th year together (hooray!) and we'd been talking about marriage for most of them. The topic first came up with the 4th of July fireworks in the tiny town of Skagway, Alaska.

My summer job: at the dock, waiting for passengers to disembark to start their tours.

Downtown Skagway ; )

At lunch with a coworker.

Home sweet home!

It took us so long; the friend that took this picture (Hi P!) went from single shore-ex working in Alaska... to helicopter pilot in Asia... to married homeowner in the Arizona desert... and then back to Alaska again by the time we tied the knot. I guess we're a little behind!

We had always planned on getting married in Ukraine (even though at that point I didn't like the country much). When we got there, though, it was overwhelming- a good overwhelm, but still overwhelm. And obviously I'm not much of a wedding planner ; ) so nothing happened for a long time. We finally got back on track, recommitting our plans at dinner one night in the seaside town of Yevpatoria (Crimea)...

... but again, life got in the way. D's father had passed away, his mother came to visit us in Kharkiv, and just as she was preparing to leave, news of massive protests in Kyiv came barrelling through the internet. Wedding plans were set aside as the entire country went into a tailspin of grief that spring. Okay, promise to not get sad and political here. Anyways, we ended up in Portland (for now) and finally just decided to go for it. Also, American health insurance people may have had something to do with it.

We honeymooned on a cruise (will post on this later) and then came back and shared the news with family and friends. D's family did that thing where everyone shouts "горько! горько!" and you're supposed to kiss for a long time. That custom was one of the things I liked most about Ukrainian weddings. By the way, there's a hilarious comedy by the same name if you're into that.

In Odessa.

D, I hope the picture above is foreshadowing. I hope we'll have many more adventures together, and someday soon become digital nomads, slow-traveling the world with Кит. I hope we'll have a bigger family than just the three of us. I hope we'll renew our vows in a peaceful Ukraine and see everyone there safe, healthy, and happy. I hope to be able to communicate better with your mom. I hope we continue to help each other and understand each other. I hope our marriage is a long conversation that always feels too short.

Thank you.