Mark and Lina met in April, 2007 at Green Lake Park in Seattle while Lina was a doctoral student at the University of Washington and Mark was working at Amazon.com. They met, as Mark likes to call it, “the old-fashioned way, by which I mean the Internet”. Lina arranged the first date to leave plenty of opportunity to peel off and head home. She never did.
Hiking near the Gallatin River
Over the next two years, they enjoyed life in Seattle together: weeknight camping expeditions, hiking, skiing, frequenting the Ballard Farmer’s market, and cooking. Mark tried to introduce Lina to rock climbing. Lina didn’t really try to introduce Mark to Ultimate, but he ended up playing anyway – beginning as captain of their winter league team, ¡Adios Pantalones!.
In December of 2008, Lina finished her Ph.D, and then taught for a semester in Bellingham, Washington. Mark and Lina traded weekends in Seattle and Bellingham until the semester was over. In 2009, Lina accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University in Boston, and Mark moved with her.
Embarking on our trip across the country.
To get to Boston, Mark and Lina set out on a 20 day drive across the U.S. They took the slow route across, stopping in Walla Walla, Glacier, Big Sky, and Yellowstone. They drove across the Beartooth Mountains and spent a night in Joliet, Montana and Chadron, Nebraska. Further east, Lina and Mark visited the Dahlberg farm in Franklin Grove, Illinois and with
Old growth forest at Mt. Ranier National Park.
Mark’s parents in Maumee, Ohio. The final leg of the trip took them past Lina’s sister, Maria, in State College, Pennsylvania and into New England by way Providence, Rhode Island where they visited her aunt and uncle.
Settling into life in Boston has been an adventure, too. We connected with old friends there and made plenty of new friends along the way. Now, two years later, Mark works at the Broad Institute and will finish his degree in library science in May, 2012. Lina finished the teaching section of her post-doc just in time to get her research off of the ground.
Mark learns the ancient Danish custom of using a saber to open a champagne bottle.
This year, Mark and Lina travelled to Denmark and met Lina’s mothers family there. In heroic fashion, Mark navigated family dinners in a foreign language, and a cross country trip (4 hours, rather than 20 days!). Needless to say, the Danes were happy to meet an American who loves pickled herring and rye bread, and who makes hilarious attempts to pronounce Danish words.
We are excited to share our celebration with all of you. This journey would not have been possible without the love and support from all of our friends and family. Our festivities are an opportunity for us share our love with all of you, and to thank everyone for being a part of our life together. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you in Montana!
Lina and Mark 