Even more surprising than her beauty was that she was all over Bill, holding his arm, hugging him, giving him little kisses on the cheek from time to time
I can’t say his story was entirely illogical because after seeing her photos and listening to his description of his time with her, it was quite possible that he’d found a high quality lady, if not his soul mate. However, I still remained skeptical and soon forgot about Bill and his hopes for starting a family with his exotic Russian bride, Olya. That is, until one day in I bumped into Bill and Olya at the health club restaurant and ended up joining them for dinner. Let me say, I was breath taken and for a number of reasons. For starters, she looked even more beautiful than the photos Bill had shown me three years ago. And with all due respect to Bill, he is an average looking man at best. To use a baseball metaphor, it appeared that Bill had hit himself a grand slam.
After shaking Bill’s hand and getting a friendly kiss on the cheek from Olya, we parted ways with the promise to not be such strangers. It did not take long for me to seek out Bill’s advice on how I too could find a Russian bride like Olya. Not only was Bill helpful but Olya too was very excited that I had endorsed the concept of meeting Russian brides. Bill referred me to GlobalLadies, and told me to post a decent picture of myself on the site. Next, they suggested that I search for at least six ladies within a relatively close proximity of each other, within a 300 
mile radius, and send an email to each lady briefly describing myself. Olya, in a gentle way, reviewed my biodata and made some suggestions that she said would increase my « handsomeness ». Bill suggested I would need to get the telephone numbers of all the I intended to visit before boarding a plane. Bill and Olya were a great asset in my search, and if not for them, well, this article would never have been written, and I would have still been in the mindset that finding a foreign bride was for losers.
But all she said was, « no »
Yes, I said with a confused joy. The joy part was that she was extremely pleasing to the eyes, and the confused part was, « why is she holding flowers ». In any case, the flowers did not get in the way of her hug. I am sure she could see that I was very pleasantly surprised. I was also very hungry and suggested that we get a bite to eat somewhere. So, we exited the hotel and not more than twenty steps later, a man said something in Russian and handed Elena another flower. Then, two more men further down the sidewalk said the same thing while they walked by. Very confused at this point, I asked her if she knew these men.
Laughing, I told Elena how confusing it was to see all these men giving her flowers, and her meeting me with flowers but not giving them to me. She also began to laugh and it was at that moment that I started falling for Elena and her wonderful laugh. Even today she will sometimes bring me some flowers. It’s kind of a joke but it is also a powerful reminder of our first meeting and what we mean to each other. I am so thankful that Bill was the pioneer and introduced me to the concept of meeting Russian brides abroad. Elena and I are extremely pleased to announce that we will be having a child early next year.