Anonymous

  Our story is simple...Boy meets girl..They fall in love...and boom! We have a whirlwind love story, but we couldn't be happier. Lars and Heather met on an online dating website. It started with a simple message from Lars. The message said something to the effect of I know I am out of your search criteria, but thought I'd give it a shot and say hi. When Heather read this, she thought...hmmm out of my search criteria, my search criteria isn't that limited what kind of loser can this be, he can't even write proper English. Well, Heather couldn't resist the smile he had in the picture, and looked at his profile. It took Heather a minute to realize why he was out of the search criteria, as his profile seemed like he was perfect. Then, she saw where he lived, Skien, Norway (this explained the incorrect grammar). Even though there was a huge distance, she thought what the heck. So we Skyped and chatted almost constantly. Within 4 days of starting to talk, Lars decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet her.  He booked a plane ticket to Phoenix and was here in 2 weeks. We had the same concerns and doubts that all of our family and friends had, but we both felt that this could be worth trying. Lars would say, "I have a good feeling about this". Heather would say "I don't know what it is, but I think this could be something". Little did we know what was in store. After a long trip and a canceled connecting flight from Amersterdam to the states, Lars finally arrived in Phoenix. Heather had planned to take him to dinner when he arrived, but as his plane landed at midnight, there was nothing open; so Heather made him dinner and brought it to his hotel. In the parking lot, we pulled in at just about the same time. Heather saw him from a distance and her heart melted. Even though he was exhausted, his eyes still lit up. The long flight was worth having. From that moment on, things went uphill and our love began to rapidly grow. It was at our first date, a Diamondbacks game and dinner at Hard Rock Cafe when Heather realized he could be the one. Our server even suggested that Lars move here as we were perfect together. The time Lars was here went by too fast. We were able to spend a lot of time together and he was able to meet Heather's family and some friends. Heather's family and friends welcomed Lars with arms wide open. We both tried to take in every minute together we could as we knew the time would come when he had to get back on a plane. The day he left was a very hard day. Having to say goodbye to someone and not knowing the future was difficult. We knew we were in love but didn't know where it was going to go from here. He said he could see himself moving to Phoenix but that was the extent of our future. While he was in Norway, we spent most of our time on Skype. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before he was able to come back. By the time he was back in Phoenix, we both knew that we wanted to spend our lives together. We discussed all of the possibilities and what we both really wanted in life. Then on September 26th, we went to a Diamondabacks game and Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We re-lived our first date, but this time, it ended with a proposal. We planned a trip for Heather to visit Lars and meet his family and friends in Skien, Norway. Heather, who isn't used to flying, took the long flight there. Exhausted when the plane landed, but then when she saw Lars, the world stopped. The ten days spent in Norway went way too fast. Heather got to meet Lars' family and friends. With a similar experience as Lars had with Heather's family, Heather was welcomed with arms wide open by Lars' family and friends. He showed her around Skien and where he grew up.  She even learned to speak some Norwegian while over there. Lars' family and friends taught Heather some interesting things to say. Is it sad that Heather trusts the Norwegian from his one year old niece over the Norwegian his friends taught her! :) The city girl got to experience small town living and realized that it can be nice too. The trip flew by and we soon had to say our good-byes yet again. That leads us to now. Lars is leaving his life in Skien to start a new one in Phoenix. We have had nothing but support from our families, which made this decision easier. With us both feeling like we have amazing in-laws, we are excited to see what is in store for us in our future! Wedding planning is well underway. Now, we just need to wait for Lars to get here.  Immigration hold ups have caused us to have to post pone our wedding not only once, but twice!  But, we just heard (August 16th) that  he will be here in time for our 3rd wedding date! :)   It can't happen soon enough and now I can get excited all over again to finish planning! We are looking forward to our lives and families joining together! Who'd have known that we'd have such a fairy tale love story. We don't know where life will lead us, but as long as we are together, we will live happily ever after!