Our story

Our families meet

We were, perhaps, being slightly coy about our relationship, "happening" to "independently" arrive in Latvia at exactly the same time to "break in" the rest of the family. The fact that some of our Lat Chat friends were also in Latvia for Jāņi↗, the multi-day Latvian pagan summer solstice celebration, and we all got together in real life to celebrate, provided some cover for our imagined deception that ours was still a relationship in the "budding" relationship. We didn't want to shock the relatives.

Peters had already met Silvija's family. She had moved in with her parents to be closer and keep an eye on them. Long distance dating meant staying over for a long weekend and Peters spending time with her parents and sister Ināra as well — traditionally, Latvian homes are multi-generational.

Peters' mom, however, was living in Latvia at the time and only knew he was dating, the same as Silvija's side of the family in Latvia: cousin Anda with her mom Zina and daughter Kristīne. So, this was the first time everyone was brought into the fold, Silvija's parents having also made the trip.

That our relationship was past the "budding" stage was made plain when our Jāņi kiss out in the countryside visiting Silvija's close family friends Zaiga and Uldis — see below — rather gave it all away.

Apologies for the small photos, they date to Peters' earlier space-limited AOL member web site. We'll re-scan when the photos are out of storage!

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