Martha and Marco

When I had just gotten engaged to Mike and was down in Frankfurt visiting Mikes family, we spent one evening at Marthas apartment. That was the first time she told me about Marco. They had just talked on the phone and she was not sure what she thought of the whole situation. I was asking for all the details. That is what friends do, right?



At our wedding a few months later their engagement was almost a certain thing.

Yes, when we act, we act fast, all of us apparently!

Two weeks later at my friends, Nathalie, wedding, we were introduced to Marco.

The excitement of it all.

Mike and me were sitting next to them during the wedding dinner and we enjoyed getting to know Marco. And in the following days I was reporting back to our other friends "He is really nice, and they are so in love". And after that I would start a thorough account of everything that happened during the dinner, so they could get a better idea of what kind of guy Martha was getting married too. Once more I will have to say, because that is what friends do.

In June I went with my sister and a friend to their wedding in Venice, Italy. We lived in a hotelroom crowded with ants, my friend was allergic to ants and would sneeze everytime one came near. She sneezed a lot.

The ceremony was so charming, apart from the pregnant woman who almost fainted while translating Marcos fathers talk. (Yes, that was actually me). Afterwards Martha thanked me because apparently something had to go wrong that day, and if that was the worst thing, then she was pretty content.

Well, glad to be of service.

Another half year later Martha and my sister are sitting in my bedroom entertaining me during the first stage of labour. She was timing both the time between my contractions and the actual contractions. I still remember her pointing out that a certain contraction had lasted more than 10 minutes now. The same second that contraction was over, we called the hospital and told them we were coming in. Now!

Martha closed the taxidoor and waved goodbye and went down and bought the pregnancy test that showed that she was also pregnant. I am not sure whether me and my 10 minute long contraction was the best thing to experience right before getting a positive result.

But as it turned out, her delivery wasn't like mine. It was much worse.

Martha and Marco 3 years later.

See, they still look so in love. It is almost like their wedding day.

You can just imagine him whispering sweet things to her. So romantic.

Awwww!

When I commented on how romantic it looked, she replied that they were discussing who should put Iris, who was laying in her arms, to bed.

"You can put her to bed sweetie."

"Amore. No. You do it."

"No, no, no. She would like you to do it, sweetie."

... and so on.

Not exactly what I was expecting.



It is funny how things change, though. But I do look forward to the next many years. Martha is already planning for Samuel for fall madly in love with Iris. I have plans for them to move to Denmark. Either way, I am sure it is not going to be boring.