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| Candid, practical advice for men in the foreign bride search! |
| Hi! Welcome to the Foreign Bride 101 blog! Here, I will share a few ideas, expand on a few questions I've been asked recently around the foreign bride search, and offer the most candid, relevant advice and information I have for nice guys like you! Enjoy your read - and check back weekly for more! |
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| Honey It’s hard to believe it’s only been 6 years! How can that be, when I feel like I have known you forever? And to think it all began on a snowy November night in the doorway of a restaurant I was leaving and you were coming into. “Hello,” I said. “Hi,” you answered and then looked away. You went inside and told your friend that some man had noticed you just outside. That friend was my interpreter the night before. Luck couldn’t have been luckier than it was for me. I went back inside to find you – but every guy on the tour stopped to talk to you and Olga and I was so jealous. I asked you to dance, so we did but then I didn’t know the song. I later found out our first dance was to “Sex Bomb” by Tom Jones. A very good omen That same night, about 3am, I couldn’t sleep. I stayed awake; pulling a chair by the window to wonder at the snow covered apartment buildings surrounding the hotel. How uniform they all seemed. Some lights stayed on all night in the distance. “Who are they?” I thought. And I also thought, “Is SHE out there, somewhere? Is she awake too and wondering about me?” Two days later we were taking in the Hermitage together. I couldn’t stop grinning. Can’t imagine what you thought of this strange American guy whose eyes never left you. Back at home in Arizona I walked by a Victoria’s Secret window in the mall. Glancing at the mannequins – I smiled. That’s her body, alright, I thought. I remember visiting you again in March, 2002, when we were just getting to know each other. We started that painfully short 4 days together by drinking wine and champagne into the wee hours, unable to stop talking. I believe I spilled every bottle we opened to some extent all over your mom’s kitchen table. That was too funny! All the talking, the endless love, my first borscht! Only in Russia can one feel sentimental about soup! But what a borscht it was – made with love! To this day, I can’t get enough. We celebrated Easter dinner with your Mom and Olga. We broke Easter Eggs together saying “Christ has died. Christ has risen again.” I told your mom you definitely had her lovely green eyes. You were talking with your Mom (in Russian) and looking at me. I asked what you were talking about. You said the two of you were discussing... THAT! Wow! I had no idea Russian girls tell their Mom's everything!!!! I loved your Turkish coffee pot. And your mother’s plants. And Larsik. Later, we sat on books by the Neva, holding hands. We brought along the books to keep out bottoms warm on the cold concrete steps that went down to the water. I held your hands and proclaimed ownership of your right ring finger, begging you to save it for me which, thankfully, you somehow did. In December, 2002, a full year after we met, we got engaged. Every guy on that romance tour wanted to talk to you when I was not by your side. Every time I came back to you, I could feel their disappointment. A few were even annoyed. We had pictures taken and developed and you couldn’t stop laughing at my stupid expressions. One day, we were walking back from dropping Sergei off at school. The sun was just coming up at 10am. “Honey,” you said, “it seems I have not said I love you yet this morning. So… I love you.” One afternoon we were walking near the Winter Palace. “So, do you want to see a man with a beer?” You said. “Beer? No. Had enough of that last night.” You paused. “So… you DON’T want to see the man with the beer?” “No, no… that’s fine.” In Russia a man with a beer isn’t exactly extraordinary. Then I saw the man in the crowd who was wrestling a BEAR! “OH!” I said. “I get it. A man with a BEAR! Yes I want to see that!” You cried at the airport when I left. The letters we wrote while waiting for the K-1 visa to be approved… those were some intense love-letters. And the day we left Russia to fly to America. “What have I done? What have I done?” You said all the way from St. Pete to Phoenix. You were so nervous. I was so impatient. You stepped out of the shower in our New York hotel with a few tears in your eyes. I didn't understand why, then. When we got married, the hostess said she had never seen a happier groom. When my sister- in-law came to an abrupt stop in traffic to avoid someone hitting her, the wedding cake went flying! It looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it tasted great! The song played before we said vows, was perfect… “You’ll always be my heat and my sunshine. I will be the moon on a good night, well I’ll shine. If I had to pick a word, it would be ‘true.’ Anything you want, baby, I’ll give it to you.” And the moment one of our friends saw you in your wedding gown, he looked at everyone and said loudly "Wow!!" One of your gown straps kept sliding down your shoulder and I kept pulling it up for you as we exchanged vows. Very cute... very funny. Sergei scared us to death by not coming home right after school one afternoon. I don’t think I ever told you exactly how scared I was that day. “How will I ever explain this to your mother,” I thought. That little apartment in Phoenix was somehow charming and perfect for us just starting out. There are times… I think I actually miss it. Once in Walmart, a guy stopped to look as you walked by and another guy who was also looking at you walked right into him. We had so much fun driving to Wisconsin in the fall of 2004. We somehow found the perfect little town to settle in. Sergei looked like a Russian cosmonaut sitting in his car-seat with no extra room at all. Thankfully, Sergei made lots of friends here. Remember the pancake breakfast outside, and the elderly couple who sat next to us? “What do you like best so far about living in America?” the lady asked. “My husband,” you said. Without hesitation. You were the most attractive pregnant woman that ever lived. When Leeza was born you told the doctor “Ok… now I want to eat!” I rocked Leeza to sleep the first time I held her and you told your mom on the phone I was a good father. You asked me if adults usually dressed up for Halloween. I said yes. But apparently not in our neighborhood. So we walked around trick-or-treating with the kids as the ONLY adults we encountered who were dressed up. You were so not amused with me. That first trip to Maine in our crowded mini-van was insane but still one of my happiest times. The driving was hell, but to see Leeza running through the waves at Sandy Beach, Bar Harbor in that adorable outfit you had sewn for her… I loved that part. Somehow in 6 years we have been blessed to have Russian-Ukrainian friends here to celebrate special occasions. And the picnics in the park or sitting by the lake in summer with our toes in the sand drinking beer together… there can never be enough of those times, Honey. All those early mornings you got up to go to work without complaining, even in the middle of winter. I am so thankful for you and you tireless dedication to our family. And those amazing flower baskets you made last year… please do that again this Spring. It has been very gratifying to watch you become more comfortable with your English to the point where you can translate for people and have great conversation. Last year as you sat for an evening in Chicago with Geoff H. and talked for a few hours with him. I was very proud of you. And now, all this time later… but it’s really no time at all, is it? 6 years… we’re just getting started in so many ways. How many more memories will we forge together this year… and the next… and the next. Thank you, Honey, for all of these awesome memories. Somehow life is just so full of promise and hope and satisfaction in everyday simple pleasures. I am as blessed as blessed can be, and as I’ve always said…I love you with all my heart and soul, and I’m thankful for you every day! Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart! |
| An Open Letter To My Viktoria For Our 6th Anniversary!! |
| Read Previous 2009 - 10 Bog Entries Below! Here are a few blog postings from last year you may enjoy! I'll keep archiving 2010 articles here as well! |
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