I'm Stephie, your typical, over-enthusiastic Kindergarten teacher, defined mostly by the splatters of paint and absurdly imaginative (and hilarious) tales that follow me home, each day. This is Cas. He's known by many as a chauffer in the clouds. He flies the 737 around Europe and Northern Africa, with a front row seat to the most beautiful accelerated sunrises and sunsets in the world. Regardless of the day, I am just an American expat in Amsterdam, attempting to blend in with my shifty bike and broken Dutch and he's a typical Dutchie, laughing (sweetly) at my (cute) attempts.
My career in teaching began with the rich microbrews and public schools of Portland, Oregon before luring me to the desert hikes and Glendale School District of Phoenix, Arizona. Cas' started off at Oxford Aviation Acadamy in England which in some strange twist of fate, sent him to Phoenix for three months to fly his first planes. This, of course, is why he, so perfectly, arrived at my doorstep the night of my first hosted party. He was hard to miss, eating all my lil' smokies with his suave leather jacket and wavy hair. He might say the same about me in my reindeer antlers and homemade ugly Christmas sweater. They were obviously impressive enough for him to ask me ice skating on a first date, to hold my hand sweetly as I embarrassingly slipped and fell the entire night, and then to drop me off early at home, kiss-less. I chalked up the early night to my horrific ice performance and talked myself into acceptance because he would have had to leave back to Europe soon, anyways. Little did I know, I was highly underestimating his shyness. A few minutes later, I received a call from the McDonalds down the street, the only place he could get wifi with his Dutch phone. He told me he wasn't ready to leave yet. Turned around. And so the story goes, we'd spend the next few months transforming both of our lives into a whirlwind of a good ol' fashioned love story.
Of course, a lot happened in between then and now. Some would say it was quite romantic. Long story short: it was. We had four months of adventure together in Phoenix before confidently welcoming the romance of long distance, spontaneous travel, heart wrenching surprises, never ending Skype dates, and puke-worthy love letters. It was never a question of it or even how. We just did it and enjoyed it. Fast forward five years, I now live in Amsterdam with a best friend whose managed to sweep me off both my feet and country. I teach, tutor, and take too many pictures. He flies the 737 and tutors high school students. In between, we manage to get swept away on adventures around this globe, eating and giggling our way through learning about every new culture we encounter.
There really is no good description for this blog other than exactly what the title says. Our rather adventurous life together involves a lot of photography (light) and loads of travel (flight). I suppose you could say that we also hope to give back a little light to others, along the way.
Of light and Flight.
Enjoy!