A wedding is always rich in symbolism, but on a sunny afternoon at Marquis Forest Grove recently, it carried far more than usual. Residents, family members and staff gathered on the lawn to celebrate two events—the beginning of a new life together for residents Mike and Diana, and the birth of a hopeful new post-pandemic world.

The couple met a couple years ago in the facility dining room, where one day in the middle of lunch Mike suddenly blurted, “I know who I want for my girlfriend.”
“Who?” Diana asked.

We’re a small community and everybody is like family, so to be able to celebrate this with you is just huge.

“You!” Mike responded. The courtship didn’t turn out to be that easy, as she admitted not liking him at first. Their first area of commonality was that they had both driven semi-trucks. Then they started going to Bible studies and just hanging out, and one day in an epic scandal another resident caught them kissing. Two years later, they were married.

Emotions were high that afternoon, and not just because of the wedding. Both Mike and Diana gushed about how supported and loved they felt by everyone at the facility. The residents and staff had been through so much—many, including Mike after a long battle, had survived COVID-19, so to be sitting together in the sunshine felt like the dawning of a new day.

“Before the vaccines, I never would have pictured we could do this,” said Forest Grove administrator Evan Windsor to the happy couple. “We’re a small community and everybody is like family, so to be able to celebrate this with you is just huge. It shows we’re almost there.”