RACHEL
&
JONATHAN
8.1.26
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Jonathan first met Rachel when he interviewed her for a podcast with a mutual friend in June of 2018. After the session wrapped, they lingered on the porch to say an awkward goodbye, and Jonathan asked Rachel when he’d get to see her again.
Not for another two years, it turned out. Life’s winding course wound away before it turned back again, as it so often does, these spurious lives leaving wounds to lick.
The podcast never aired. It was among Jonathan’s—a media titan, sure—more impulsive ambitions. But he never forgot about Rachel or the thoughtful way she talked.
This is a true Portland story: Rachel wouldn’t reappear in Jonathan’s life until a Christmas puppet show produced by the youth of north Portland in 2019, a shadow puppet show. In a darkened auditorium, Rachel floated to the concessions same as Jonathan did, the outcome causal of several technical failures and children forgetting their lines. Rachel got hers first, a bag of popcorn, and caught Jonathan’s glance before she retreated into the shadows behind her gray wool beret.
A glance and a reminder: Life’s winding course winds back when you listen. A few months earlier, Jonathan had camped at New Brighton Beach, in Santa Cruz on business, a walk away from the Toback family home where Rue grew up. But Jonathan lost that job and went to Vietnam for a friend’s wedding. Rachel went to Petra, a place she’s always wanted to go. In the winter of 2020, Jonathan moved in with family while Rachel settled into the Alberta house with new roommates, listening to wild geese. COVID hit, introducing a deafeningly silent backdrop, and Jonathan finally found Rachel six months later on Instagram, at Sauvie Island’s Collins Beach, under a heat dome in a one-piece.
🔥
🔥
We had our first date over coffee and popcorn on Rachel’s stoop couch. We fell in love over 2 a.m. tiramisu and COVID escapes to the sauna on the coast. We stayed up late trading dream for dream on the shag carpet in Rachel’s new condo with Japanese Breakfast on the speaker. Be Sweet. We swam in lakes, introduced each other to our friends and family, and traveled the West, the Mediterranean, Argentina. We fought like hell in domestic and international destinations up and down the Pacific seaboard.
And we rebuilt our lives. Jonathan learned how to love and listen, he found a career and bought a house. Rachel learned how to ask for what she needs, she left teaching and went (back) to grad school. Love’s grit wears away the rougher edges.
We brought each other depth in light and darkness. It has made us stronger, more capable, more patient, and more kind. It has created for us a life we didn’t think was possible and we can’t imagine a world without.
We are a family. Now we’re getting married.
That’s how we feel about you, too. You brighten our lives and honor us with your presence. We learn from you and grow with you because you are our family and we love you.