Marta and Charles are getting Married! (FINALLY!!)
Marta thought Charles was handsome the moment she saw him. Charles thought Marta was pretty the minute he saw her. After their first date, they both knew they would have fun getting to know each other. Neither one of them was eager to up-end their lives and give up the freedom of being single and the masters of their own destinies. And they both knew they wanted to get to know the real version of each other, not just the spiffed up date version of each other, before they got started on the adventure known as love.
Unfortunately, Marta lived in Washington and Charles was in Alaska. The distance of over 2000 miles made getting to really know each other a slow process. But texting and random phone calls, and occasional dates when they happened to be in the same state, kept them connected over the years. And the spark of that first attraction never went away.
Then one New Year’s day, after a lovely evening of fireworks, s’mores, and some BSB, Marta made a wish (an actual wish using wish paper). She wished for more time to spend with Charles so they could truly get to know and understand each other. But she was in Washington, and he was in Alaska, and she knew just a wish wouldn’t be enough. So she also prayed that God would give them time together in the coming year. That was January of 2020. That year, God rearranged the entire world. Using the pandemic, God brought Marta back to Alaska and kept her here for several years. This gave her time to change the way she works (and to convince her bosses that this new way will work for them, too).
With everything shut down, and Marta back in Alaska for the first time in years, Charles and Marta finally had the time they needed to invest in each other. They shared and learned about each other’s faith, families, and politics. But they also learned about Marta’s goofy side, Charles’ thoughtfulness, Marta’s aversion to politics, Charles’ powerful inner troll and his remarkable ability to restrain it, their love for their families, their love for Jesus, their willingness to try any food once (except for sea bugs), their enjoyment of good drinks and good food, weird music, and Google shorts, Marta’s ability to lift furniture and appliances twice her size over her head in order to clear out a room, and Charles’ ability to make everyone laugh together, but never feel laughed at. They also discovered that even mundane things, like dishes and cooking and waiting in lines, even waiting in traffic, are better when they are together. So after many dates, many days, many months, and all the laughs and hurts and memories they’ve shared, Marta finally agreed to say YES to getting married (and Charles finally agreed to ask…).