When a girl from America and a boy from Belgium are destined to love each other very much... they are bound to meet in Uganda. Or so it was for us! Kira while on her second trip for PhD field work and Vincent while posted for work for the Belgian development agency. We bonded over warm Nile Special (beer), boiled matooke (plantains) and the scents of rain and dust on the air in an outdoor restaurant. Then we fell in love riding boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis), climbing Wanale, playing squash, traveling to Zanzibar and Zambia, and being with our friends over long, candlelit dinners (Vincent is a little obsessed with the importance of lighting for setting a cozy or "gezellige" mood), games of poker and Cards Against Humanity, Halloween costumes, nights at the Thatch and El Tanjia, and home-cooked international-style Thanksgiving dinners.

Out of Africa, our story continued with Vincent coming to Boston in the Fall of 2014. Intense family time, an eye-popping trip to the Southwest US, and lots of university applications later, Vincent's visa expired and it was Kira's turn to head to Antwerp. More family time, more travel, and many kilometers of bike riding moved us forward and our fates were pretty much sealed. Months of separation throughout our relationship have proved our commitment and our love to ourselves and each other. With Vincent's acceptance into the Harvard Kennedy School's Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPAID) program and Kira's completion of her PhD (woohoo!) and appointment to a Postdoc at Brown, we are able to stay together for a blissfully secure few years at least. We are the lucky ones indeed.

Though we travel all over, both together and separately, we keep our love for each other and our families and friends close to us always and look forward to sharing that love with you on August 5, 2017!

It had been a beautiful Christmas holiday, spent with friends and Kira's family in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Good cheer, an abundance of dark beers (maybe more Kira's thing than Vincent's), mulled wine, candlelight, and more carols than anyone (except Kira) would possibly enjoy made for a beautiful holiday. After a long day of driving back to Boston on New Year's Eve, we settled in for a quiet evening at home ("Did you want to go out? We could go to ----'s for a bit..." "Uh, yeah, I mean, if you want to...?" "Hmm...maybe just a quiet night, just us?" "That sounds wonderful..."). We unpacked Christmas goodies, watered plants, set up the new record player and dug out some old Jazz and holiday favorites, listening to their soft hum as we hung up new art and settled back into our home.

Kira was happy because Vincent had mentioned engagement rings on the ride back home ("How do you feel about a non-diamond ring? What with the politics of the industry, etc?" "Yeah, diamonds aren't necessarily my thing. Anything pretty, chosen by you, would be perfect" <-- giant grin). Vincent was happy because Vincent is perpetually content. Dinner was simple, hearts were content, a bottle of bubbly was cracked as the ball began to drop. We watched the countdown, curled together on the couch, remarking on how perfect the evening had been, just us, being us, together.

As we sat happily, Vincent drew something from the cushions of the couch: a box. (Kira's immediate thought: "Who's been leaving boxes in our couch?! We need to clean more often! And someone's lost their box!"... and the secondary thought: "Oh wait. Oh God! Oh my god! What? What?"). With a smile, Vincent opened the box to reveal a beautiful silver ring and said something along the lines of "Will you marry me?" (but Kira doesn't actually remember exactly what words were spoken because her brain had shut off, and was thinking only "There was a ring in the box in the couch?! Whoever lost it's gonna be so upset!" as well as something that was still remarkably similar to "Oh wait. Oh God! Oh my god! What? What?"). What she actually said was "Are you kidding?", to which Vincent responded, "Um, no. I'm really asking". So Kira said yes, because duh. We're in complete and utter love :)