Meet the Newlyweds Kyle and Vanessa

Let’s Meet Kyle and Vanessa who both blog at The Yellow Brick Road, and whom also recently returned from a trip to China (and lots of places in between).  They live in Korea teaching English, and have hilarious stories of their daily accounts of the Korean culture and living in a foreign county.  Be sure to check them out.

Wedding date: Around sunset in a vineyard on September 2, 2006.

Blog (s): www.vanessayrogers.blogspot.com

How did you meet? We were high school sweethearts.   We met in theater.  He is a year younger and participating in a dorky class play about a boy and a girl who were both shunned because of their big noses and find each other in the end to live happily ever after.  I thought he was a cutie, and became friends, but didn’t really start my crush on him until about a year and a half later when we were playing opposite of each other in “The History of Tom Jones.” (not the singer, it is a hilarious play)  I got to stage kiss him before we even kissed as real couple.  As you can imagine it was tortuous kissing “the crush” only to have to act “normal” offstage. Everyone knew I had the biggest crush on him, including our directors.  He acted oblivious to it all, despite his knowledge of my crush.  He flirted with me for four months before actually making a move (off stage.)  I went off to college without him (for the first year as I graduated before him) and although originally we had decided to let each other go, we couldn’t break up, and we never have.  This December will be the anniversary of that first kiss 10 years ago.

When did you know he was the one? I knew early on, probably before he knew.  I was in college at Texas Tech, 6-7 hours away from him, depending who’s driving.  We were having one of our nightly chats as I walked home through a parking lot to my dormitory and I was just struck with this overwhelming feeling ( I don’t even remember what we were discussing) of utter and complete love. At the time, I didn’t really want to scare him, I mean he was a high school senior, I told him that I really hoped he was “the one.”  But what I was really saying was that I knew he was.  His response was “I hope so too.”  Advanced for a high school boy don’t you think?

What is one of your favorite things to do together? We love traveling.  We are addicted to wandering the world, which drives certain members of our families a little crazy.  We are in our mid-twenties and so far we have been to over 25 countries.  We studied abroad in Italy, we volunteered teaching ESL in Chile, and we are currently teaching in South Korea.  It’s funny though because when living abroad, life turns to normal as usual.  We cook together frequently, although my family credits him for any dishes that are outstanding (no bitterness). And we both love photography.  Our new computer, less than a year after we purchased it, is FULL with photos.

What is something new you learned about your husband after you were married? Well, this is a new development, after four years, but I believe he is auditioning for the role of house husband and he has recently become  a cleaning machine.  He was never a clean freak before- and he isn’t really now, but he has developed the cleaning bug.  It’s odd and good simultaneously.

What do you do to stay connected during everyday stresses of life? Our work place currently is pretty stressful.  The work itself is pretty easy, but it is run by crazies.  We work out, cook together and cuddle a lot.  I need a lot of attention, especially when I am feeling stressed, and Kyle is soooo wonderful with giving me the attention and affection I crave.

What is your best piece of marriage advice? Remembering to love each other.  Seriously, it is so easy to forget to love the person you live with day in and day out.  Not just love, but act out of love. Being sweet to each other, being considerate, kissing, not out of habit but out of desire. We get so accustomed to each other, it takes a lot of work to remember to actively love each other.  We went through, not a rough period, but a period of blah-ness, where we fell into this routine of just living together not too long ago.  I actually wrote a blog post about it, and it is honestly one of my favorite posts.  http://vanessayrogers.blogspot.com/2010/04/marriage-that-keeps-going-and-going-and.html I think it is something that all married couples go through, and the ones that pick up a shovel and start to dig, the ones that put in the blood and sweat, those are the ones that in the end will make it.  One last piece of advice I have which is along the same lines has to do with fighting.  I think most people can relate to th story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because we all have a Mr. Hyde hidden away from the rest of the world.  Some of us hide him better than others.  When Kyle and I argue, Mr. Hyde rears his vicious head and has a tendency to fight with an uncalled for fierceness just out of pleasure.  Pleasure really isn’t the right word, but I can’t think of how to describe it properly. One way I find to bonk Mr. Hyde back into hiding is to look at a picture of the two of us together or recall a moment in time in which I really felt “in love” with my husband.  Magically my tongue untwists and the claws retract as I remember that I am not fighting an enemy but the man I love.

What is your favorite quirk about your husband? He’s a pacifist who LOVES weaponry. Seriously in just about any movie, he can name the type of sword, gun, knife, if it is deadly, he knows what it is. But he doesn’t like war and he isn’t a hunter.  Go figure.

What is something special you do just for your husband? Scratch his back.  Is it a guy thing to want your back scratched all the time.  We read out loud to each other at night and the deal was that he would read, if I scratched his back.  But he especially likes the game where I draw something on his back and he guesses what it is.  I personally find the game exhausting because I am not very good at drawing, and it takes lots of time for him to figure out what it is, but he LOVES IT so I’ll play until I fall asleep.

Tell us something about yourself. This is a tough question.  I am not really sure what to say.  We love food. You might call us foodies, and maybe even winos. We are passionate about life. We follow politics, and try to at least vote, even when far away. We are true homebodies. It’s ironic, I know that we are adventurers and travelers and yet we LOVE being at home, especially in the Korean winter, which seems to be upon us already in the beginning of fall. I hate cold weather, and become a hermit.  Kyle and I have been married four years.  We got married EXTREMELY young by international standards, however in Texas, it was quite a normal age to be married in our early 20’s. I have found the reactions of people world wide intriguing. Most people can’t believe we would get married that young without an external reason such as having a child.  I can’t imagine not being married to Kyle.  We dated for so long before marrying, and I love being married.  At first the word husband was really foreign and too “grown-up” sounding, but now I love saying it.  He is a wonderful man and I thank God everyday for our life together.

I am still in search of couples so please If you are interested in being a Meet the Newlyweds featured couple, leave a comment and/or send me a message and I will get in touch with you.