The Polish Nanny

How does a young dark haired beauty from Poland meet a young dynamic man from Arroyo Grande, California? On the Internet of course! Yes, a person can find love on the Internet but there is a strategic method to the complex maze of surfing the Internet love sites.

Christopher, from Arroyo Grande, with a stable extended family, wanted to meet a woman who could live out of a duffel bag while travelling, could discuss philosophy and could survive and enjoy living with his forty family members. Marija, from Poland, a lone long standing survivor of divorced parents, wanted to meet a man who was college educated, had a job and solid career goals and was open to travel on a plane, train, bike, bus or donkey. After scrutinizing each others questions and answers for months, they began their Internet romance for a year and half. Words, images, photo's, video flew over cyberspace like a regular heart beat. Laughing at the latest Polish joke Christopher had sent, Marija knew it was time to meet in person on neutral territory.

Upon accepting a nanny position in London for a summer, Marija shot off an email to Christopher to come over the pond and visit her and play tourist together. He responded quickly by booking his plane ticket and then started worrying if all this money was for nothing...not for the girl he imagined, not for the relationship he was hoping and not for love. Being a history major in college, he regrouped his scattered thoughts and concluded that the trip would be at the very least, a glimpse into castles, old armor and the Elizabethan age of decadence.

Marija met Christopher at Heathrow's terminal gate (he was waving a little Polish flag) and by the time their underground tube ride had ended at Marble Arch, the words were flowing easy and comfortably. Having only a week together, they hit all the big history spots and because the butterflies of love were swarming, one night at the Dorchester....with tea, crumpets and a single pink rose served on a silver tray in the morning.

The night before Christopher was due to step on the plane back to California, he proposed to Marija in a little row boat floating along the Thames. She mumbled something in Polish which meant, "yes, oh yes, yes, of course yes"; and plans were sketched loosely for a wedding in America. 

Thousands of emails later, Marija arrived in California with her few possessions stuffed into bags and her heart full of hope and love in the future and Christopher. It seemed only months later, she was diagnosed with a liver disease and drugs were heavily pumped into her body. She continues to be on multiple medications and  is at the bottom of a long waiting list for a donor organ.

Marija and her "Krysztof" (Christopher in Polish) are still getting married. They truly understand that their future is not written yet and may end tragically. Their love has been tested by distance, language, time and the frailty of a human body. On their wedding day, as Christopher says his wedding vows, it will truly have a powerful and emotionally charged meaning for him:

I, Christopher, take you Marija, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

May prayers be sent up that this young couple can have a rich and long life together with their children and their children's children for many days to come. Amen.