Today is the anniversary of the day in 1993, when many amazing adventures of my life began. More precisely, when my adventures with my husband, Steve, began. We met 31 years ago today!

But in our personal history, this day is famous for another event too. My son, Dávid, and I moved to America, to Seattle, on this very day in 1996. Steve and some of his family members met us at the Seatte-Tacoma International Airport, and greeted us with a traditional Hungarian greeting written on a banner Steve made for us: ”Isten hozott, Márta es David” (Welcome, Márta and Dávid).

Over the years, we celebrated this special day in many different ways. Often we were at home involved in our regular chores, but always raising our glasses to our good fortune. Sometimes we traveled on this day, either in the U.S. or abroad. For example, in 2018, in Africa, in Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, after a short afternoon safari settling in the unique Hammerkop Migration Camp, we got a surprise celebratory cake from the camp’s staff to commemorate the 25th ”anniversary” of meeting each other on this day.

In 2021, we were at Crater Lake, in Oregon.

In 2023, we were on the island of St. Kitts, in the Caribbean, on the Scenic Railway.

But for many years, we spent this day in my home country of Slovakia, either in my village of Pozba, or visiting Dunajská Streda, where I lived for 18 years and where we met. In 2004 and 2014, we even managed to pose in front of the building in which we met each other, a school that hosted Peace Corps Slovakia.

2019 was a special year, because in Pozba we were hosting some of our friends from Seattle and celebrated this day with them with a traditional Hungarian feast.

In 2022, in Banská Štiavnica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on our sightseeing walk we stopped to take a selfie to remind ourselves that our adventure together continues after so many years.

And today, July 12, 2024, it was a simple celebration. We walked in the neighborhood, ate good food, did some research for our upcoming trip, watched some documentaries, read our books, but we didn’t forget to raise our glasses to many more years of adventures to come!