MARYLOU & ALINA
Marylou Stewart
49, Photographer
Alina Wilczynski
37, Graphic Designer, Wabi-Sabi Artist, Co-Founder of OP/LYNX (The Women’s Division of Out Professionals)
Long Island, NY
Marylou and Alina met at a fundraiser for the Long Island Lesbian Cancer Initiative in October 2003. They had their first kiss in June 2004 at one of New York’s most lovliest locations—Lincoln Center. And that kiss, they say, “confirmed the power of our connection.” Did it ever! A week later, Marylou proposed marriage and Alina said yes. “Everything just flowed,” Alina says, “and felt so natural, like we had always been together. Our values, desires and outlook on life and learning matched perfectly.” What keeps Marylou and Alina together “is self love and self-respect. We allow each other to be all of who we are—our greatest strengths and brilliance, to our deepest fears and questioning.” The relationship got through the difficulties of Marylou’s ovarian cancer recurring—twice, and they say they’ve learned to “embrace the healing process as it presents itself, without questioning it, because choosing to do whatever it takes to regain health is to choose life, to choose love.”
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