So statistics here at Yokota have it that two out of three
Airmen will get married during their tour here. I did not come to Japan
thinking that I would be part of that statistic, but I also did not think that
I would meet someone like Christopher Lilley.
Chris and I worked together in the Urgent Care and got to
know each other well. We would hang out quite frequently on our off days, and
even when we were not on shift together, we would talk every day. Long story short, we decided to get
married. On June 9th we went down to the courthouse in Fussa. Once
there, we found out that two Americans getting married in Japan was a bit more
difficult than we anticipated. We had to translate the paperwork as well as our
birth certificates. We started the
process at about 9:30 AM and were running around pulling favor cards until 4:30
PM when we walked back into the courthouse with all our translated documents
and an hour later, walked out as husband and wife.
We then went to The Black Teahouse in the foothills, about
30 mins away, where we were treated to an amazing 8 course traditional Japanese
feast with some close friends. Tonya Toche-Howard is a Nurse that we work with
who has been a mentor and a friend to both of us and signed as one of our
witnesses. Juan Garcia signed as our second witness. Chris and him have been
friends since they both arrived here about two years ago. We like to hang out
with Juan and Rosemary. They got married a few months after Chris and I and now
live two floors below us in our tower.
Chris and I lived in the dorms for about three weeks before
we had a favor card pulled for us and got offered a three-bedroom tower
apartment. I was wary at first, but after we walked through it and found out we
had a view of Mt. Fugi, we could see ourselves in the apartment life. Once we
moved all our things in and began to decorate, it was a lot easier to call our
8th floor apartment Home.
A little more about Chris:
