“I saw my chosen one two hours before the registry office”: a Muscovite found her destiny in the Northern Military District zone

Meet Vasilisa, a volunteer girl who first saw her future husband, a SVO participant, just two hours before registering her marriage. She told MK how she received a photo of the engagement ring from her boyfriend, how her relatives reacted to the decision to connect their lives with a person they knew only through correspondence, as well as about the traditions that had developed in the young family.

I learned the story of 26-year-old Muscovite Vasilisa and her husband, a 28-year-old military man with the call sign “Chief,” from the girl’s sister, Anna, with whom we traveled together to the Northern Military District several times. The story of the creation of a young family seemed so fascinating and extraordinary to me for our days that I wanted to meet Vasilisa and find out everything in detail.

“We should start with how we met,” the girl begins the story. – This happened in mid-May 2023. I got a job at the Popular Front branch and began providing visual and information support for all the events that take place here. On May 31, I needed to collect all the photo and video materials on the medical backpacks that were transferred to the front. Colleagues advised me to contact one of the medical instructors with the call sign “Chief”, who is fighting in the Northern Military District zone. The fighter has already sent us a video of him running across the field with this backpack and shooting from a machine gun. I needed to get these shots.

I remember I was also surprised why I should write to him myself if I just needed videos. But my colleague insisted. She also joked that he was so cool and we could make a beautiful couple.

At that period of her life, as the girl admits, she was not in the mood for any kind of relationship at all, just work was work. In the evening, sitting at home, I decided to write to the military man. The next day the guy answered, and communication began between the young people. At first we just corresponded occasionally. On June 6, Vasilissa left on a business trip with an international humanitarian mission. And from that moment on, their communication became more frequent and meaningful.

“Some common themes began to emerge,” the girl continues. – At times it got to the point where he asks me a question, I write an answer to it and catch myself thinking that I would ask exactly the same one. Everything he wrote to me was identical to my thoughts, my feelings, my worldview.

We talked all the time when he had the opportunity to get in touch. After a while, I started talking about how I wanted to bring humanitarian aid to his unit, and at the same time get to know him in person. At that time, we didn’t even think about any relationship, since at the very beginning of communication we found out that none of us needed it. But, nevertheless, every day our connection became deeper. In three weeks of correspondence, we discussed as much as people do not discuss in dozens of years together.

And then one day I wake up and see a message that he is completely and irrevocably in love with me, that all his previous attitudes have come to naught, I simply destroyed them to smithereens. He wrote that he really wanted me to be his other half.

Vasilisa agreed without hesitation. And this despite the fact that the young people had never seen each other either in person or via video call, and only called each other once. The girl admits that at that moment she did not have the slightest doubt that this was the right decision.

– Literally a few days later in correspondence, I suggested that it was time for me to start weaving camouflage nets for him. “Wait a couple of minutes,” Chief wrote in response. And then the following message arrives: “You will be my wife.” I tried to joke and asked if this was a proposal or a plan. To which he replied that this is the proposal, and we will come up with a plan now.

Vasilisa admits that at first she did not believe in the seriousness of the virtual admirer’s intentions, but subsequent events made her convinced of the opposite.

“It was somehow strange for me,” the girl admits. – “What do you mean, are you proposing to me if you’ve never seen me?” – was spinning in my head. And the next day he sent me a photo of the engagement ring.

The girl shared what was happening with her sister, who was quite skeptical about her novel. However, Vasilisa herself, as she admits, had no internal resistance.

– To be honest, throughout the entire time of our communication, I somehow internally felt that he was really my dear person. He is so “his own” that it cannot be conveyed in any formal words, it is at the level of something deeper, unconscious.

On July 1, Vasilisa arrived in the Northern Military District zone. Her chosen one was given a dismissal; the young man collected in advance all the certificates necessary for the couple to be signed off on the same day.

– I saw my husband for the first time two hours before the painting. It was something very unusual, enchanting, sacred, I don’t know what to call it,” the girl recalls. – You know, sometimes people live for five, ten years and can’t come to this, but here you have no doubt that this is the right decision. At some point I thought: “God, is this really happening at all, or am I just dreaming?” Such stories are usually found only in beautiful films…

Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, the spouses do not see each other often. Whenever possible, Vasilisa brings humanitarian aid to her husband’s unit.

– Of course, it’s very difficult when you want to be close to a person, but you don’t have such an opportunity. But on the other hand, you understand that all this is not in vain. Now, in general, the special operation has acquired an even deeper meaning for me, because earlier, when I carried humanitarian aid or collected money for it, of course, there was a feeling that our guys were there, whom we needed to support and do everything possible in our power, and Now a personal moment has been added to this.

Recently, the newlyweds were granted a vacation, which the newlyweds naturally spent together. We met each other’s families and friends. We got a four-legged friend – a corgi dog named “Bead”. Vasilisa admits that they have many plans for the future, some of which are already being slowly implemented. The couple began to renovate the apartment.

– I want that when my husband returns from the front, he understands that love and care are invested here.

– Does your young family have any traditions of their own?

“Yes, alone,” the girl smiles. – Every evening we write three phrases to each other: “I love you. I thank you. I want you”. Regarding the third, I would like to clarify right away that it is not of any sexual nature. I want you as a person, I want to spend time with you, get to know you, get to know you, I want to be part of something bigger with you. These phrases are our postulates, the foundation of strong and reliable happiness. Every day, if possible, we share with each other our experiences and impressions, and try to find mechanisms for interaction with each other. We have worked through and talked through a huge number of things that now help us build relationships without pressure, without conditional psychological violence against each other.

We are very protective of personal space. I am always surprised by wives and girls who, if their boyfriend is sad or does not get in touch, begin to say that he is some kind of scoundrel, a villain, and has stopped loving her. But you have to understand that not all men at the front have enough emotional resources to take out a screaming, hysterical woman, who, on the contrary, should provide a calm rear.

The girl admits that she has never regretted saying “yes” to her chosen one. And I am sure that this feeling is mutual.

– I feel how he reaches out to me and how I reach out to him. We went through a huge number of serious situations in which we felt even more deeply the importance and need for each other in life. We truly are each other’s support and support. Our relationship is built on deep respect and recognition. We talk through everything, every disturbing factor, question, situation. This gives us the opportunity to move on without any restrictions, because an open dialogue allows us to resolve a lot of issues. Thank God, we were honest and open to each other from the very beginning…