“MARRIED LIFE”. For each couple’s story will be completely individual and that’s what’s makes it so special. We all find different ways to chronicle these years of our lives together in different ways. For an international couple like us from Sweden and California; our chapters of married life haven’t always fallen into the traditional categories of years but rather: how long did we live in that country/state?
The first chapter or our married tales truly began September 2012 when we were wed in the mountains of California after long-distance dating for 2 years. We stayed there a few months wrapping up Lindsay’s California life until we moved to Sweden in December and started the chapter or our Swedish Married Life adventures. We lived there for nearly 3 years and during that time we went through an intense green card process to make our move to America.
More specifically, to the golden state of California where Lindsay is from. We did a lot of thinking and dreaming and realized that to continue to follow our dreams we needed to say bye for now to Sweden and head out west. We never could have know then, that we would only end up living in California for about 8 months and the time we spent there was full of lots of ups and downs, but we will always hold those sunshine-y moments close to our hearts.
Starting over from scratch in another country had the potential for new opportunities but it also showed us how unprepared we were. We didn’t have any rental, credit, or job history in the states and unfortunately the US isn’t as kind to their immigrants as was Sweden. We kept believing that the right things would come to us if we kept knocking on new doors but we mostly had them slammed in our faces.
As our 2 year anniversary approached some doors started to open for us! We celebrated by going on a little trip to the mountains and stayed in a cozy b&b and explored the California forest. Jonas got a dream job as a pumpkin illustrator and carver and thus began the most epic Halloween season for us full of jack-o’-lanterns, paper moons, masquerades, and even got to be in a Hocus Pocus inspired music video with our friends!
We really did have the best holiday season of celebrating birthdays and for Lindsay to show Jonas all the traditions and things she grew up with in her home area. That is probably one of the most important things any international couple can do for each other is spend time LIVING (not just visiting) where the other is from, you learn so much about each other!
We really thought California was going to be the land of opportunity for us with Jonas’ art and for Lindsay with wedding planning but our time in California turned out to be for a different reason. We tried living where each other are from and neither was a good fit so we started a new adventure when we decided to move across the country and try out being innkeepers. This was something we had talked about doing for ages but with visas, moving, and surgery that dream was put on hold for a while but came back to us right when we needed it.
Leaving our California family and friends was heart wrenching but we hope to not stay away too long but knew we had to take this journey to try and find where we belong.
-Lindsay & Jonas
