Courting Shawna: December 2008 to December 2009
On December 6, 2008, Shawna Vacca and I went out on our first date.
On December 6, 2009, we were married. This is the story of that.
July 2008. The woman on the left is my friend Beth Bienvenu, then an Associate Professor
in George Mason University's Arts Management program. She is sitting at a cafe
in Berlin with one of her students, Shawna Vacca. Beth was guiding her class
through a field trip abroad, where she and her students met with the heads of numerous
arts organizations. Shawna was one of Beth's most promising students (they
would later present their work at an arts conference). That was in July.
In November, Beth invited Shawna
to attend the symphony with her and two of her friends, Sabine and Paul.
November 2008. This is me on the day that I met Shawna.
I spent the day playing tourist at Mt. Vernon with Beth and her friends
Sabine and Paul, who were visting the United States from Vienna
(this story is very international). Later that evening, the four of us met up with
Beth's student Shawna for dinner in Old Town Alexandria. Shawna sat next to me
and we hit it off. After a while I stopped monopolizing her, we re-engaged with the
rest of the party, and a good time was had by all. Shawna, Beth, Sabine, and Paul
then left
for the symphony and I left for home, but not before giving Shawna my card.
Long story short, we e-mailed to get to know each other and Beth invited us both
to join her at a performance of Handel's Messiah. On that night Shawna and I met at Braddock Road metro station. While waiting for a connecting train at Gallery Place,
we shared our first kiss.
December 2008. Our early dates were interrupted by my travel--for work in
December and January
and to visit family before and at Christmas. Somewhere in there we attended
Shawna's holiday office party, which involved bowling and alcohol. "Great!,"
I thought. "This will be a chance to get some photos to show off to my family
at Christmas!" The photos didn't come out very good...
... so I talked Shawna into letting me take a few shots...
... before flyng was off to Kansas City. There I met my sister Carolyn and her
daughters Naomi and Simone, for a road trip to California
(the above picture was taken at a roadside attraction near the continental divide).
For Carolyn the road trip would end in Arizona, where she had just taken a new job.
For me it would end on a plane flying out of San Diego.
In the meantime, Shawna and I texted and talked on the phone.
Somewhere in there I mentioned that I was signing up for a bicycle tour/class
in order to learn how to do self-supported bicycle touring. Shawna was interested
in doing it also, so we both signed up!
March 2009.
The bicycle tour wasn't until May, so we had plenty of time to get to know
each other and each other's friends. Here we are out with Shawna's friends
and fellow students Lynne and Jessica.
April 2009.
And here we are with my bicycling pals Scott, Erika and Geof, riding and viewing
the cherry blossoms.
In April we took our first out of town trip, a Potomac Pedalers Touring Club
cycling weekend in Lewes, Delaware. We did the rides at our own (slow)
pace, building up our mileage to the point where we thought we were ready for the
bicycle tour in May.
On the last day of the 3-day weekend in Lewes, we set up our bikes with
racks and panniers to mimic the riding we'd do on the tour. This picture,
taken from the top of a World War II observation tower that we saw on our
ride, shows Shawna to the upper left and our loaded-up bicycles to the
lower right.
May 2009.
And we're off! The bicycle tour, which took us all over the Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown area in Virginia, was a lot of fun.
The first day had been taken up by lectures, equipment discussions, and
a test ride with the entire group. This is us on the morning of
the second day, May 12, when we left for a camp site near Jamestown.
My plan was to wait for a romantic evening and "pop the question."
This was a beautiful spot, my enjoyment of which was only slightly marred by
my trying to decide whether or not to go digging into my pannier for the ring.
The ring wasn't a traditional engagement ring. Instead I bought a fun and colorful
ring at an art gallery, thinking we could shop for a traditional ring later.
I decided to stick to my plan and waited until that same evening to ask.
She said yes.
The ring.
This is at the end of the third day of the tour, when Shawna was
head chef at dinner. At lunch she tried waving her hand around a lot, hoping
someone would ask about the ring. That didn't work, so we came out and told
everyone. After dinner Shawna's cooking crew, "Bear" and Randall, came out with some champaign and we all had a toast.
Cooking on the tour was fun and a bit of a challange. On the first night I
was head chef, and selected a relatively-simple recipe from the camp-cooking
book that our ride leader provided. My crew and I got dinner ready nearly on time.
The second night, Eric was head chef and used his skills to impress. Dinner
was late, but worth waiting for. The third night Shawna was head chef, and dinner was
more ambitious, more delicious, and even later
[Shawna: "But that was after the longest day of riding!"].
The forth night John, our ride leader, put a stop to
all that by telling that night's kitchen crew to order pizza. Yay John!
On the fourth day of the tour. Show us the ring!
Also day four. A cake to celebrate everyone's first self-supported bicycle tour!
And to celebrate our engagement!
The entire crew! Back: Jeffrey Field, Brenda Jaffe (with husband Dave behind her), Kathy Hinz, Randall Rupp, Bill "Bear" Starr, Kathy Jenkins (ride co-leader), John Browning.
Front: Ben Pace, Jim and Sheri Brown, John Emory (ride leader), Shawna, Jonathan, Eric Gulliver (Photo by Lea Emory).
This was on the fifth and final day of riding, at the Yorktown Memorial. The Yorktown Memorial
also marks the eastern end of the Trans-America Bicycle Route, which is the first of
many bicycle routes created by the Adventure Cycling Association. The ACA is
currently helping the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials develop the U. S. Bicycle Route System
(sort of like the interstate highway system, but more fun).
Before leaving the Williamsburg area, we dropped in on Shawna's friend Martha,
to tell her the good news.
June 2009.
We could only pass off an arty trinket as an engagement ring for so long.
So what to get? How much to spend? Where to put our money--on a finger or in the stock market? Shawna decided that her great grandmother's engagement ring was just the thing for
her finger.
In June, we took another long weekend away from home, in Annapolis.
Not wanting to throw out Tiger Lilies (her favorite), we brought these flowers with us
to Annapolis. After this, Shawna started asking me to photograph the flowers I
brought to her.
Finally! Someone in my family gets to meet Shawna! This was a visit
from my youngest sister, Elizabeth, and her family (Jamie, Chris, Teddy, and Stephen).
That day we visited the Air and Space Museum Annex (the annex is where
they keep planes that are too big for the museum).
July 2009.
Getting to know each other. On a ride near home, we stumbled across an apartment
complex where Shawna's father used to live. Simultaneously, Shawna tumbled off of her bicycle.
August 2009.
More fun with family. Shawna's half-brothers Eric and Jeff (standing) Dindlebeck,
their mother Linda, and Jeff's girlfriend Zenobia.
September 2009.
In September we visited my father and his wife, Diane, in San Diego. Since our
bicycles are designed to travel, we brought them with us. Dad and Di were
wonderful hosts.
While in San Diego, we rode to La Jolla, where we
waded in tidal pools and took pictures. We also stayed out too late
riding around and Dad had to come rescue us (thanks Dad!).
The next day we went for a ride with my sister Teresa and her daughter Angelina.
Angelina and Shawna got along just fine.
Me with Teresa and Angelina.
Later that day we visited my brother Nick and his wife Anne in Los Angeles.
Nick sang a few songs.
My uncle Eddie was visiting Nick also. Here he is holding his new granddaughter Laura.
After our tour of southern Californina in September, we decided to move to new digs
in November and to follow that with a very small wedding in December. So we put
down the camera and got to work.
December 2009.
Wedding day! I'm happy, Shawna is exhausted and happy, and all is right with the world.
It was a very small wedding. From left: Shawna's friend Koli Mitra,
Shawna's stepfather Mike Vacca and mother Juli Vacca, us, my mother Teresa Krall,
my brother Nick and Shawna's father John Dindlebeck.
After we got back from brunch, we shared a frozen custard cake from our local
icecreamery, the Dairy Godmother.
Cut the cake!
At the end of the day--opening presents and glowing.
Just three weeks later, here we are settling in to our new home.
The wedding candles are still on the coffee table, but wedding flowers are gone,
replaced by holiday decorations.
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Courtship / Jonathan Krall / revised July 2010