From East to West, love finds a way

Thursday was the Chinese New Year holiday, and for me it was not just the start of a new year but the start of a new life with my bride from China.

River and I have worked diligently for a long time to bring about this great day of marriage, but in one sense it was never hard work for either of us because we knew we were working together. That makes all the difference.

She comes from another culture, speaks another language, and looks at life from another perspective, but from nearly the day we met on the Internet 18 months ago, we discovered that love was a bridge that could easily cross an ocean.

We shared songs, dreams, poems and our deepest hearts with each other. Though we both were afraid, we continued to take chances in order to let our relationship grow. I was able to travel to China twice - first to meet River and then again to meet her parents. I discovered a great country which had much in common with the United States, and both River and her parents were able to see me not as a foreigner but as a friend. For the past year, we have maneuvered through the bureaucracy that grants fiancee visas, and at last in January, River was able to join me here.

Of course, we are not the first lovers to meet on the Internet, or to jump across cultural barriers, but it does seem like a miracle to us that we were able to locate each other amidst all the other people on a planet full of people who crave love but can't always find it.

There is no GPS system for this kind of thing - or perhaps there is. Certainly, the poets tell us that the human heart is a beacon calling out to others of like sentiment, and the Bible tells us that if you seek, ye shall find.

We only know that we are grateful for the happiness that we have gained, and the good fortune that has been showered on us. We are especially grateful that my family has been able to make room easily for one more member. My children, Carmen and Meredith, have been more than generous in their patience and acceptance as we have been making the transition.

Now, of course, we expect our journey to follow a more traditional path. Marriage itself may rightly be called hard work, I think, no matter how much it is fueled by true love. So, through the coming weeks, months and years, I expect to be challenged to give up parts of the old self I had worn so comfortably and to put on my better self.

She deserves my very best, and in her, I know I already have it.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don't like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com