Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary Habibi!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Five years ago I flew to Egypt to marry my sweetheart. We had known each other for nearly three years online and been engaged for the past nine months. I had sent out an announcement to my friends and family and they tried to talk me out of it for those nine months. I traveled with my brother and his then fiance to her sisters home in Seattle and stayed with them so I could fly out on Christmas day to Egypt. We planned to get married on New Year's Day. When I arrived the next day on the 26th I found my nervous fiance at the airport. He was shaking when he met me but he told me it was Winter and cold. That day it happened to be raining which he said was unusual. He had arranged for his best friend, who was also a doctor named Waleed, to pick us up in his car and then we all went to dinner at Pizza Hut. They had a big flat screen TV in the dining area and it was the first time for me to see the Melody Music Channel playing modern music videos of Arab pop stars.

That night alone in the apartment he got down on one knee and asked me again to marry him. I hesitated and it scared him but I said yes of course. He went to go sleep on the couch in the living room giving me the bed until we could wed. I begged him to sleep in the bed because it was so cold and he had no blankets. He compromised and slept of the floor next to bed holding my hand. We found out that because it was right before EID the government offices would be closed so we couldn't marry on New Year's day as planned. In order to feel safe staying together we had to accelerate the wedding date. We attempted to finish all the paperwork with the Embassy and Ministry of Justice on the 27th but we found out I needed a residency stamp in my passport in order for them to marry us. It was too late in the day to finish all the errands so they told us to come back first thing the next morning and they would marry us.

That day was packed with errands and running around on foot mostly. We'd gone from the Embassy, to the Ministry of Justice, to the governmental building in Tahrir square for the residency stamp and we hadn't eaten much. By the end of the day of running these errands I was exhausted, tired, overwhelmed with culture shock and my luggage was still lost at the airport. I needed to get out of these clothes I'd been traveling in for three days and eat something and I told him that but he seemed in a rush. Then I saw a cow tied up next to a business in the middle of this big crowded city and I didn't understand why there was a cow in the city and not the country and I started to cry. Looking back it's funny but he tells me this scared him because he didn't know what to do. Plus he was afraid of anyone seeing me crying with him standing there. People may come and attack him for what appears to be a local harassing a tourist. He calmed me and said we'd go shopping and get something to eat after the last errand. After waiting in the packed governmental building to buy my residency stamp we went to buy some clothes until the airport could find my luggage. We went and looked and he bought me some socks, underwear, and some under t-shirts. That night he slept on the floor next to the bed again and I in the bed with my arm hanging off the side holding his hand. We made light of it by joking he could be sleeping in the bed today if we'd been married as planned.

The next morning we went to the Ministry of Justice to marry and he had his two friends Sabry and Hany go as our witnesses. They kept us company while we waited but mostly they kept my fiance company leaning against the wall all chatting in Arabic and laughing while I waited in silence alone on a bench. I had attempted to include myself but they rattled on in Arabic to only jokes they understood so I went back to sitting down. Every now and then one of them would come by and give me a pep talk while I waited. I wished for someone on my own side, a friend or family member, to keep me company on this important day. Then my husband was told he needed two forms of ID's so he had to run to get a second one and took Hany with him leaving me with Sabry. I got really nervous then, even momentary cold feet, but Sabry kept me company while my mind was reeling. Then my fiance came back with Hany and we were ready.

We went down a hall passing offices where people were smoking and we were led into an office with two desks and some filing cabinets with other things around. We sat down in front of a man behind a desk and the two witnesses behind us. The man pulled out five pieces of paperwork and began to fill them out. He mostly spoke to my fiance in Arabic asking questions and then writing things on the paper. It was all surreal because I didn't know what anyone was saying and I couldn't read what the paper said. I must have looked scared out of my mind because I was feeling very stunned and shocked at getting married like this. It was not how I'd imagined ever but it was how it would have to be for me. Then came the very formal man asking me a question and I think it was for my "I do" moment. Then we all signed the paperwork and put our thumb prints each five times. Then the witnesses sign and the big intense moment was over. We were officially married and I was happy to be linked arm in arm with my husband. We walked down the stairs four floors to the street with the witnesses behind us and it felt like the wedding march after someone is married. Then they shook hands with him and congratulated us and disappeared into the streets of Cairo leaving us alone to celebrate together.

In those five years a lot has happened in our marriage and in his friendships with those three important old friends of his. Who would have guessed our lives would change so dramatically in these past five years.

We spent the rest of my time there that first trip going to the pyramids, the 6th of October to a theme park to ride the rides, then on to Luxor to meet his Grandma and stay with his Mom's side of the family, and then onto Hurghada to stay with his best friend, the other Dr. Waleed for the remainder of the time. Dr. Waleed had a younger brother, Ahmed, who also married an American girl two weeks or the month prior and stay with him. And Dr. Waleed was also involved with an Egyptian Polish girl named Emma. He would later marry her and they would have a baby daughter before he would die the week before Christmas in a tragic car accident. That accident would set me in a tailspin for 48 hours because they didn't know which Dr. Waleed had died in the car accident. I was told several time my husband was dead, and then alive until I could confirm it with his family. While I was relieved to know my husband was alive it was still very tragic because we all lost a very dear friend in such a horrible way.

It would be nearly 3 years before I would see my husband again because of my schooling and him being taken into the Egyptian military. But after the first trip came a second trip that was better than the first. This time his family gave us the big white wedding, religious ceremony at El Nour Mosque with friends and family. It is probably one of the best memories of my life being embraced by his family after everything. On the first trip he said he felt he had to keep it a secret until he could win them over because his parents were described as very traditional and conservative. I guess after sticking by him during the military obligation and long separation I won them over. I have found them so warm and welcoming that sometimes I feel closer to my Egyptian family than I do my own. That summer I was able to stay in the family flat in Cairo for a couple of weeks and spend some time with them. Then we stayed in his older Sisters flat while their family went to their home on the sea for the summer until we could move to Hurghada where he got a job as a doctor at Dr. Waleed's private clinic. I spent three months in Egypt with the majority of it in our own flat in Hurghada on the Red Sea. It was a fabulous time and I could visit the sea daily. Sometimes I wish we were back there.

Eventually I had to go back to school and finish another semester of classes to wait for his "visa in hand". It didn't come until Feb of 2010 and he arrived that April. He's been here nearly two years and it's been an adjustment. The first year they're in your country is the hardest for them and for both of you. But if you really love each other that will shine through and things will have a way of adjusting, compromising and working their way out.

Today I said to him,"It's been nearly 8 years that we've known each other. Can you believe we've been married for five years?" To which he said, "It feels like one." I love you habibi! Here is to another five years and may they all be together this time and only getting better!

Many of you have been with me (us) through much of the visa hurdle jumping and often times my laying on the floor wailing and having a fit. Thank you for being there, being understanding, being kind and compassionate, and becoming my friends through these years. Many of you are also celebrating or have already celebrated your 5th wedding anniversary this year and I extend my congrats to you as well! Here is to many more good years in your marriage as well!

[together4evr 360]

Thank you for the beauiful post and Congrats to 5 beautiful years and many more.

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Happy Anniversary Olivia and Waleed!

Meriem

[awyawyawy 0]

Congrats!!!! :-)

[Muh and me 18]

Congrats Olivia and Waleed. Yours is a beautiful story!

[meno-is-mine 37]

Congratulations and Happy Anniversary!!! What a wonderful and REAL story to read. It sounds so crazy but having been through similar experiences and feelings, I know exactly what you mean about everything. I'm celebrating my birthday soon and I was just thinking how it's another birthday of mine that my husband and I are apart. So sad but also nice in the sense that we've stuck it out all this time, despite the long separation. I was able to spend 3 months in Egypt with him this past summer so that helped, but that feels like so long ago now... LoL... i had an urge to fly out during this winter break, but I knew that leaving him and coming back home would have been that much harder on us both... I would have loved to spend my birthday and the New Year with him though... sigh... patience...it's hard but that and love are all that are keeping me going...

Anyhoo... thanks for sharing your story

[Ban Hammer 13,555]

it's like i've been watching olivia grow up on vj. she's gone off to college, gotten married, now she's been married 5 years! where does time go?

[mounir412 101]

Happy Anniversary !!!

[venusfire503 54]

Happy Anniversary, and congratulations!

venusfire

[Bisola 2011 16]

What a beautiful love story! Congrats to 5 and many more...

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Happy 5th anniversary to you two !

[Josie-Be-Happy 11]

Thank you for sharing your heartfelt story. Congrats to the both of you.

[RAKASA 0]

Happy Anniversary to you Olivia & Waleed! And.... Wishing a Happy 5th Anniversary to my sweet sweet husband, Said. I love you so much babe. Here's to a wonderful 2012 w/ you and an amazing "rest of our lives" together. ♥ Ohibouk Buzzef Habibi ♥

[CasandraYounes 0]

Very beautiful and heartfelt story. Happy 5th Anniversary. Goodness that made me think of how I met my husband. Wishing you guys many more years to come together.

[Lisamarie 79]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your beautiful story )

Five years ago I flew to Egypt to marry my sweetheart. We had known each other for nearly three years online and been engaged for the past nine months. I had sent out an announcement to my friends and family and they tried to talk me out of it for those nine months. I traveled with my brother and his then fiance to her sisters home in Seattle and stayed with them so I could fly out on Christmas day to Egypt. We planned to get married on New Year's Day. When I arrived the next day on the 26th I found my nervous fiance at the airport. He was shaking when he met me but he told me it was Winter and cold. That day it happened to be raining which he said was unusual. He had arranged for his best friend, who was also a doctor named Waleed, to pick us up in his car and then we all went to dinner at Pizza Hut. They had a big flat screen TV in the dining area and it was the first time for me to see the Melody Music Channel playing modern music videos of Arab pop stars.

That night alone in the apartment he got down on one knee and asked me again to marry him. I hesitated and it scared him but I said yes of course. He went to go sleep on the couch in the living room giving me the bed until we could wed. I begged him to sleep in the bed because it was so cold and he had no blankets. He compromised and slept of the floor next to bed holding my hand. We found out that because it was right before EID the government offices would be closed so we couldn't marry on New Year's day as planned. In order to feel safe staying together we had to accelerate the wedding date. We attempted to finish all the paperwork with the Embassy and Ministry of Justice on the 27th but we found out I needed a residency stamp in my passport in order for them to marry us. It was too late in the day to finish all the errands so they told us to come back first thing the next morning and they would marry us.

That day was packed with errands and running around on foot mostly. We'd gone from the Embassy, to the Ministry of Justice, to the governmental building in Tahrir square for the residency stamp and we hadn't eaten much. By the end of the day of running these errands I was exhausted, tired, overwhelmed with culture shock and my luggage was still lost at the airport. I needed to get out of these clothes I'd been traveling in for three days and eat something and I told him that but he seemed in a rush. Then I saw a cow tied up next to a business in the middle of this big crowded city and I didn't understand why there was a cow in the city and not the country and I started to cry. Looking back it's funny but he tells me this scared him because he didn't know what to do. Plus he was afraid of anyone seeing me crying with him standing there. People may come and attack him for what appears to be a local harassing a tourist. He calmed me and said we'd go shopping and get something to eat after the last errand. After waiting in the packed governmental building to buy my residency stamp we went to buy some clothes until the airport could find my luggage. We went and looked and he bought me some socks, underwear, and some under t-shirts. That night he slept on the floor next to the bed again and I in the bed with my arm hanging off the side holding his hand. We made light of it by joking he could be sleeping in the bed today if we'd been married as planned.

The next morning we went to the Ministry of Justice to marry and he had his two friends Sabry and Hany go as our witnesses. They kept us company while we waited but mostly they kept my fiance company leaning against the wall all chatting in Arabic and laughing while I waited in silence alone on a bench. I had attempted to include myself but they rattled on in Arabic to only jokes they understood so I went back to sitting down. Every now and then one of them would come by and give me a pep talk while I waited. I wished for someone on my own side, a friend or family member, to keep me company on this important day. Then my husband was told he needed two forms of ID's so he had to run to get a second one and took Hany with him leaving me with Sabry. I got really nervous then, even momentary cold feet, but Sabry kept me company while my mind was reeling. Then my fiance came back with Hany and we were ready.

We went down a hall passing offices where people were smoking and we were led into an office with two desks and some filing cabinets with other things around. We sat down in front of a man behind a desk and the two witnesses behind us. The man pulled out five pieces of paperwork and began to fill them out. He mostly spoke to my fiance in Arabic asking questions and then writing things on the paper. It was all surreal because I didn't know what anyone was saying and I couldn't read what the paper said. I must have looked scared out of my mind because I was feeling very stunned and shocked at getting married like this. It was not how I'd imagined ever but it was how it would have to be for me. Then came the very formal man asking me a question and I think it was for my "I do" moment. Then we all signed the paperwork and put our thumb prints each five times. Then the witnesses sign and the big intense moment was over. We were officially married and I was happy to be linked arm in arm with my husband. We walked down the stairs four floors to the street with the witnesses behind us and it felt like the wedding march after someone is married. Then they shook hands with him and congratulated us and disappeared into the streets of Cairo leaving us alone to celebrate together.

In those five years a lot has happened in our marriage and in his friendships with those three important old friends of his. Who would have guessed our lives would change so dramatically in these past five years.

We spent the rest of my time there that first trip going to the pyramids, the 6th of October to a theme park to ride the rides, then on to Luxor to meet his Grandma and stay with his Mom's side of the family, and then onto Hurghada to stay with his best friend, the other Dr. Waleed for the remainder of the time. Dr. Waleed had a younger brother, Ahmed, who also married an American girl two weeks or the month prior and stay with him. And Dr. Waleed was also involved with an Egyptian Polish girl named Emma. He would later marry her and they would have a baby daughter before he would die the week before Christmas in a tragic car accident. That accident would set me in a tailspin for 48 hours because they didn't know which Dr. Waleed had died in the car accident. I was told several time my husband was dead, and then alive until I could confirm it with his family. While I was relieved to know my husband was alive it was still very tragic because we all lost a very dear friend in such a horrible way.

It would be nearly 3 years before I would see my husband again because of my schooling and him being taken into the Egyptian military. But after the first trip came a second trip that was better than the first. This time his family gave us the big white wedding, religious ceremony at El Nour Mosque with friends and family. It is probably one of the best memories of my life being embraced by his family after everything. On the first trip he said he felt he had to keep it a secret until he could win them over because his parents were described as very traditional and conservative. I guess after sticking by him during the military obligation and long separation I won them over. I have found them so warm and welcoming that sometimes I feel closer to my Egyptian family than I do my own. That summer I was able to stay in the family flat in Cairo for a couple of weeks and spend some time with them. Then we stayed in his older Sisters flat while their family went to their home on the sea for the summer until we could move to Hurghada where he got a job as a doctor at Dr. Waleed's private clinic. I spent three months in Egypt with the majority of it in our own flat in Hurghada on the Red Sea. It was a fabulous time and I could visit the sea daily. Sometimes I wish we were back there.

Eventually I had to go back to school and finish another semester of classes to wait for his "visa in hand". It didn't come until Feb of 2010 and he arrived that April. He's been here nearly two years and it's been an adjustment. The first year they're in your country is the hardest for them and for both of you. But if you really love each other that will shine through and things will have a way of adjusting, compromising and working their way out.

Today I said to him,"It's been nearly 8 years that we've known each other. Can you believe we've been married for five years?" To which he said, "It feels like one." I love you habibi! Here is to another five years and may they all be together this time and only getting better!

Many of you have been with me (us) through much of the visa hurdle jumping and often times my laying on the floor wailing and having a fit. Thank you for being there, being understanding, being kind and compassionate, and becoming my friends through these years. Many of you are also celebrating or have already celebrated your 5th wedding anniversary this year and I extend my congrats to you as well! Here is to many more good years in your marriage as well!