(An early anniversary letter to my brother and his wife, because who ever knows when you’ll get wifi on the race…)
It was five years ago that my world changed. I spent my life surrounded by brothers, and then on October 1st I gained a sister. This loving, classic, talented woman married my fun, amazing brother and I now have not a sister-in-law, but by law I have a sister. She is altogether lovely. She is one of those women that just radiates elegance. And she is Romanian. We melded two cultures together that day. American and Romanian, crazy and calm, contemplative and creative. My brave brother, the first American to marry into her family, usually finds himself confused at family dinners when she and her family speak in Romanian. Her parents, with voices thick with Eastern European accents, tell me stories of smuggling Bibles in communist Romania during a much darker time. They speak blessings and life into our Henry world because they are full of a well-lived life. They have lived a “well done my good and faithful servant” kind of life. We spend holidays now not only eating our southern casseroles, but cabbage rolls and nut cups and pastries handmade by memory of a generational recipe. Our carefree, sometimes messy, family has learned to take off our shoes at the door of our Romanian counterparts’ homes. And someday, hopefully soon (wink wink) I will have half-Romanian nieces and nephews. Maybe they will be able to teach me some Romanian phrases, and I’ll teach them to blow a gnarly bubble with their gum. So to begin this journey throughout the country of my beloved sister, I say a massive HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to her and my brother. Because it was on this day in 2009 that Romania squeezed itself into my heart, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this month. As we begin month 4 here in Romania, I find myself mystified by the beauty, charmed by the culture, and I’m quickly falling in love. I feel as if it invites you in. She possesses all of the same qualities of the place that made her. It only seems appropriate. So here’s to Gabriella Apahidean Henry: I thank God for you every day; for the way you love my brother and my family, for the joy you bring to this world, and for bringing Romanian flava to the good Henry name.
Xoxo
