Love and a Whole Year

On August 29, 2011, Hubs and I married on a Monday over my lunch break at the Courthouse. It was an easy decision. We knew we needed to be married for me to join him in Russia and wanted to be prepared for leaving at any time. (Little did we know that we wouldn't be leaving until late March 2012...) If it doesn't sound romantic, believe me, it wasn't in the beginning. But neither of us really cared. We knew we would have the big wedding and this was just to cover our bases legally, so let's get on with it. Off to the Justice of the Peace!

But no one told the JoP that it was just a formality. And in the sweetest, simplest exchange of "I Will", in an empty courtroom, we were married. I am forever grateful to Judge Santana, who started us off on the most unexpectedly romatic path our love story has taken. It was overwelming and beautiful. And during a time that I was driving myself crazy with wedding plans and becoming infinitely frustrated with budgets, themes, food and all the wedding fixin's, it was a pause in time. A reminder to slow down. A glimpse of the tenderness of love on its own, without the fluff and fancy. I now had a new last name, a new responsibility, a new future and a perma-grin that hasn't left my face yet. (Hubs had the same, plus a new tuxedo t-shirt, which he was pretty excited about...)

On August 29, 2012, Hubs and I were stranded in Noyabrsk, Russia. Thinking that we would be back in Moscow, we had made plans to go to a fancy restaurant for dinner and walk around town, soaking in the life and energy of our crazy new home. Maybe stop in an Irish Pub for some Guiness. Tell everyone who spoke English that it was our Anniversary. Settle in our apartment and watch the DVD of our wedding.

And even though I knew we wouldn't get to do all of that stuff, I was optimistic about our celebration. We managed to celebrate Hub's birthday last week just fine and I was sure that I had learned my lesson over bad attitudes and unrealistic expectations. And I had found a card store (all of which were in Russian, so I have no idea what my card to Hubs actually says...) and some decorations, so I would even be able to somewhat decorate our hotel room. I learned my lesson alright.

We didn't even make it till noon before bad news hit. Our visa application had been rejected (again) because we didn't have our marriage license. We had an official copy in Moscow, and the original in Texas. Not only was it frustrating to hear that we were missing documents, but I was instantly terrified that we would send in our original marriage license and it would never be returned. I'm a little sentimental about things like that, and even though I'm bound to lose it eventually, I wasn't too keen on the Russian government gobbling it up. This on top of now two weeks of getting the run around on our visa application and I freaked.

Hubs is so good to me. I know he was frustrated too, but he just let me freak out. He listened while I threatened to march up to the government office if they didn't return our marriage license. He listened while I made plans to call the office in charge of our visa process and give them a piece of my mind. He listened while I fretted about the potential to not get our multi-entry visas before our single-entry visas expire the end of September.

It was an exhausting roller coaster of a day. Somehow we managed to get them a copy of our marriage license. (Yay!!) But then they needed confirmation that I was the Sarah Hill on the marriage license AND the Sarah Callis in my passport. (Whaaaaaaat...?) Then my mother-in-law found my old passport and birth certificate. (Yay!) Now we wait to see if they will accept our packet 'o papers, even without a marriage license. (*hold your breath*) I can't say I was in a foul mood, though, despite the fact that it was an emotional day.

So I went upstairs to the hotel restaurant where we eat every day. We've been here so long, they really have to know us. They're nice enough, but like I've said before, Russians aren't know for giving you the warm fuzzies. Everytime we ate upstairs, Hubs was convinced they hated us. (I knew better. Who could possibly hate us?) I wanted to get some ice to greet Hubs with a Gin and Tonic when he got home (insert cheesy housewife comment here...) and while I was up there, I asked about the champagne list. I told the ladies that it was our 1st wedding anniversary tonight and we would be getting a bottle to celebrate. They congratulated me, but I figured their smiles and congratulations were mainly because I had that big, silly, perma-grin while talking about it.

I went to go downstairs and our normal server ran to the door and asked what time we would be coming back, so I told her around 8. I was immediately embarressed because I thought that we were supposed to make reservations every night, and we hadn't. Maybe they were icy stares and not just their normal relaxed faces. But I chose to not think about it. I'm pretty good at that. Who can fault us for making a small mistake like that? We're not from 'round here...

Hubs got home to the hotel with the most beautiful flower arrangement. He had gone to three different florists looking for pansies, which are the official one year anniversary flowers, but there were none in the city. Isn't that something? Even learned the Russian word for pansies from his co-workers! I hadn't been expecting anything, because he had been working the last two and a half weeks with only one day off, so I was so surprised and thrilled. My gift to us was a lock. Pretty romantic, huh? Let me explain. In Russia, almost every park I've been to has an area where you hang a lock. In Gorky Park, they put locks on this one bridge that crosses a pond and here in Noyabrsk, they have a "tree" in the park. I have no idea what this actually means, but I can deduce from the engraved or written names and dates that it's something romantic. Maybe they put a lock up on their wedding day? Day they met? Anniversary perhaps? So, off we went with our lock and hung it on the lock tree that we had found in the park. People will see it and wonder how two English-speaking people ended up in Noyabrsk to continue this tradition, and I hope they make up a good story about us.

We went back to the hotel and up to dinner. Our rough morning was forgotten after a long walk, the love lock tradition and holding hands. We had done it. We had salvaged an anniversary and made it extra special. Despite being a million miles from family, friends and everything we knew. How could it get any better?

I'll tell you how. The kindness of strangers. We sat down and saw our server busy in a secluded corner of the restaurant scattering roses, lighting candles. My initial reaction was that it was for us and I had to fight to control my inner giddiness. Hubs thought that I had orchestrated some elaborate dinner for two and was grinning at me sweetly. But then the same server walked away and handed us our menu while we sat in our regular table. Oh. Guess someone else is gonna have a sweet, romantic dinner...

But then, with the biggest grin I have ever seen on a Russian, she told us in English, "I have something for you." And she pointed to the secluded, romatic corner. All three of the employees working that night were now behind us, with the biggest smiles as we raved about the gift they had given us. We had our champagne. And with it rose petals, candles, smiles and friends.

I was a blubbering idiot. Within five minutes our faces hurt from smiling so hard. We felt like royalty. It made sense that after a year of surprising other people, we were completely blown away with a huge surprise by complete strangers in a foreign country.

We talked about our year. And we both agreed that aside from our wedding, our favorite part of the year was the first month we were in Russia. Isn't it strange? The most difficult month we've had as a married couple happens to be our favorite. We knew nothing. And we learned. Some about this new world we were living in, but mostly about each other. We learned how to comfort. We learned how to be happy. We learned how to create a home. We learned how to live in the deepest of love. We learned how to share strength.

What will we learn in year two? Well, we learned last night to never underestimate the capacity for people to show kindness. I have a feeling, based on all this visa nonsense that we will continue to sharpen our year one skills. And I know, above all that we will learn even greater depths of love, support, strength and determination.

It could be a scary thing to think about the future, especially the way our day started out. But it's hard to be scared when all you can smell are the roses.

Cheers to surprises and the dear, sweet people who pull them off.