Koi No Yokan
Koi No Yokan (n.) (phr.) Japanese : The sense one has upon meeting another person that they will fall in love.
The morning of the day they were to be wed, Georgia & Mark both shared a bit of their story via Facebook posts. We’ve included shortened versions of their beautiful words here. It may look like a lot to read on your phone or computer screen, but it is so compelling and sweet. I could not have written anything better about these two than what they have already written about each other.
___
“Today, I get to marry Georgia.
In just two hyper-fast years, we’ve already carved out an amazing life together that I couldn’t have dreamed of when I added her on Myspace in 2004. It took us 9 years after that to actually get together, but it was worth the wait. I’m ready to have it all with her.
In her beautiful post below, she mentioned saving the photos from my Myspace profile. She also mentioned the top five lists that we used to email one another way back in 2004 (we were really into High Fidelity). Well, big news: I still have all those lists. Even when years would go by without talking to her and it seemed like I would never even get to see Georgia again, I’d dig up these lists and smile, and think about her.
I guess I held out a desperate hope that maybe, someday, we’d end up together. That there’s no way that someone as perfect as her would slip away. Little did I know that she’d be even more perfect as a girlfriend and fiancee, and I know that soon, she’ll be the greatest wife, mother, and t-ball coach imaginable.
The internet, if it’s not uncool to call it that, has given me a very good living, a career that I love, and has introduced me to all the amazing people with whom we’re sharing the day today. But putting Georgia in my life is still the most astounding, magical, universe-altering thing it has ever done for me.
I love you, Georgia. Thanks for making that feather-haired, Caribou-shirt-wearing 18-year-old the happiest 28-year-old in the world.”
___
“About ten years ago I got a Myspace friend request from Mark. He had two photos, one is this one here. I think I right clicked and saved them both onto my parents’ old Dell almost immediately. He was so cute. We started talking and soon we were emailing each other constantly, sending endless lists that had stuff like ‘Top 5 Canadian Bands’ or ‘Top 5 Guilty Pleasure Songs’. We talked all the time about Nick Hornby, Douglas Coupland, The Constantines, and whatever else burgeoning hipsters in 2004 were into. This went on for years. I was crazy about him. We met once in person when I was visiting Toronto in 2006, but we were dating other people and so we had something like a 20 minute walk somewhere around the Eaton Centre, and that was that.
Years went by and life continued. But no matter where I was or what I was doing, my stomach always flipped when Mark commented on one of my posts, or liked one of my Instagrams. It sounds so silly writing that, but that’s how it was. My friends and I used to joke that Mark was my unicorn - a guy who isn’t ‘the one that got away’ because you never had him, but more ‘the one you always wish you could have’ but for some reason, whether it’s life or love or whatever, it’s never the right time. But you still imagine, and you always keep an eye out.
About two years ago I was back in Japan, and I got a message from Mark saying he was going to be in Vancouver, and if I’d like to have a drink. I think I actually gasped when I read it. I was so nervous before we met. I had no idea if we still had anything on common, or if we would be at all compatible real life, but in the cab to the bar Mark made a joke about The Wire, and I pretty much knew right then.
Mark is kind, and compassionate, and emotional in a really honest and interesting way. He has such a good sense of humour, and great hair. I love the way he looks in t-shirts, and those slow, apathetic blinks when I confirm with him, usually once a month, ‘so wait, you really haven’t seen any of the Batman movies?’ The fact that I am marrying my teenage Myspace crush never gets old to me. Marrying Mark feels like marrying a celebrity.
The world is a more incredible place for me with Mark in it. It’s shinier and happier, and feels way less scary because I know that no matter what, we will always have each other. Today is an amazing day, because I know now that unicorns exist, and magic is real.”
