I met Amy while working in Shanghai in 2005; she was teaching English in a small town in Western China, and just happened to be in Shanghai to renew her passport at the Philippine Embassy. She was eating a salad and drinking a Long Island Iced Tea alone at the bar, and something just told me to send her a drink and say hello. As cliche as it sounds, I really felt like my life began anew at that moment. (As we've discovered since then, it seemed events long before conspired to bring us together in Malone's that evening ...)
Amy returned to her school in a few days, but we kept in touch via text message and email (we stop and marvel sometimes at how technology has really made our relationship possible), and eventually started planning to meet for weekends in various places in China. It was a thrilling way to fall in love, and to see an amazing country together.
Eventually my work in China was completed, and I prepared to return to the US. But before I did, Amy and I spent time in the Palawan Islands of the Philippines, and confirmed our commitment to find a way to be together - to not let mere circumstance, time and distance keep us apart! :)
Our first hurdle was in securing an annulment for Amy - as many know, there is no divorce in the Philippines. 19 long months after filing her initial paperwork, it was finally granted, and I could include her Certificate of Finality in my I-129F application. If nothing else, that experience of waiting for the annulment has given us world-class patience - getting the K-1 after that should be no sweat! :)
We've managed to meet 2 or 3 times a year since I've been back in the US, and had some nice holidays together. But it is still nothing compared to what we feel we're getting ever closer to, especially now having just mailed the I-129F today, and seeing how short recent times between receipt and NOA2 have been for VSC recently!
This site has been of such help to us - don't know how we would have managed to get even this far without it. Looking forward to making more happy updates here soon!
