The Wedding: part II

I can't believe it's been THREE WHOLE YEARS since we got married! It was such a beautiful, special day, and looking back on the photos I still can't believe we pulled it off. There are a lot of traditions behind Greek Orthodox weddings, and even more when you get married in a village on Crete. Starting with the groom and his party parading up to the bride's home to ask for her hand in marriage. (Side note: all the gorgeous photos from these wedding posts are by the incredibly talented Anna Roussos. If you happen to be looking for a wedding photographer in Greece, she is excellent and I can't recommend her enough.)

Don't they look badass? The guys were accompanied by our band, who played beautiful Cretan music to accompany the mantinades the groom is tasked with reciting to the bride. Mantinades are a traditional Cretan poetry, in this case used to make a good case for the bride to accept the groom's hand in marriage. Peter didn't write ours (his Greek is good, but not THAT good, haha.) They were actually written by my Aunt, the last person to get married in our village. And they were absolutely beautiful.

Spoiler alert: I said yes :) I think my Dad actually said yes before Peter could get a word in, haha. (sidebar: looking at these photos again brings back little memories and details like that one, and it's giving me all the feels...)

After the beautiful serenading was over, we all proceeded to the church together- bridal party, groom and groomsmen, the wedding band and all of our guests.

Aren't my cousins so gorgeous?!

If you haven't been to an Orthodox Christian wedding, they're a bit different from any other marriage ceremony I've experienced. No vows, no kiss at the end, and the first dance happens at church ;) Feel free to skip these bits if you don't find this stuff interesting.

My mother was the 'psalti' or chanter for us and did such a beautiful job (as always <3)

Everything in the Orthodox church is done in threes to represent the Holy Trinity (no joke!) This is the blessing and exchange of rings, and below is the placement of our wedding crowns. We were officially crowned king and queen of our own little kingdom :)

One of most beautiful things about our wedding is how many people helped make it happen and had an active role to play. My Uncle, a deacon, helped officiate parts of the service in English; my Mother chanted, one cousin did my makeup, another drew out a beautiful olive tree for our invitations. My Dad and sister drove in and out of the mountains TWICE the day before the wedding to fix an electric issue (thanks guys!) Even now I am totally floored by how much my family pulled together to make this beautiful day happen.

And this is our first dance (I wasn't kidding about that, haha.) Called the dance of Isaiah, these were our first steps as husband and wife :)

Everything was such a whirlwind. We were rushed off by our photographer to take photographs at Arkadi Monastery. It's a beautiful place with sand-colored stones and well crafted architectural details, but a pretty dark past. You can read more about here, if you're interested.

Gosh I love this guy.

We weren't done taking photos but I think this post is getting a little long. I'll try to get the rest of the photos up by the end of next week! All of these images are by the incredibly talented Anna Roussos.

Happy Monday :)

There and back again

I didn't really mean to take a 3 year break from this space. And yet here we are! To be honest I wasn't sure a. how many people were reading b. if what I was putting out there was any good/beneficial to anyone (myself included) and c. if it was worth the effort during probably the hardest time of my life, residency.

I often oscillate back and forth as to how much of myself I'm willing to expose on the internet. While I'm not comfortable totally unveiling my struggles in the last 3 years, let me just say in case there are any aspiring physicians out there that my years of residency training were the hardest of my life. I worked longer hours, faced more anger and sadness, and struggled with more burn out than I ever had and hopefully ever will again. My program was not particularly better or worse than most training programs in the United States. It's not as if there's anyone to blame.This is simply the way things are. This is what we must do to become fully trained to care for sick human beings. If you are resilient, you'll be alright. If you are sensitive (hi!) brace yourself because it's going to be a rough few years.

And maybe don't stop doing the things you enjoy doing while you're in some of the hardest years of your life...I have a feeling writing, drawing, sharing music and all those things I used to love doing would have helped make the last few years a bit easier.

Either way...I'm back. I'm planning my next move and just so, so thankful that I've made it to the other side.

How's everyone else? What have you been up to? Are you still around? If so, thank you.

I'll post the rest of the wedding photos soon... in the meantime here's one of the many many songs that I've been listening to on repeat this year. Feel free to share your favorite songs in the comments. I'm always looking for new stuff :)