11YEARS OF SEPARATION

Russia,1987.

It was prom night in high school when they both had their first kiss.Growing up in the same neighborhood as kids they would always set off to school together everyday.When Irina Watford and George Froser grew up,they fell in love and tied the knot, they never knew it would be another 11 years until they could be together.

(http://www.hurlburtphotography.com/blog/chip-terry-philadelphia-area-couples-photographer/)[image source]
In the early 1970s, Irina was living in Moscow working for the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. It was there that she met an American doctor named George who was her high school colleague.After high school they have not seen for 6years due to George who left the Soviet Union to school of Medicine and Surgery in Florida.On returning to Russia in 1976, Irina and George knew it that there was no much time to waste again after enduring being
apart for six year,they got married but there was still Georges career which took him back to the United States for medical practice.

(http://www.hurlburtphotography.com/blog/chip-terry-philadelphia-area-couples-photographer/)[images]
Irina on the other hand found out she was pregnant 3months after Georges travel. It was suposed to be a year until his return back to Moscow but a year would turn to 11 years.
The cold war was at its peak and the Soviet was denying visa to immigrants from the US.After many failed trials to sucessfully secured a visa to Russia,Irina wrote to George a letter(she have delivered a baby girl after 9months who George named Jennie) that takes almost 6weeks to deliver across the atlantic en route to Florida.
She told George that instead of the indefinite wait she herself and the baby should book for Florida by the next summer(3 years have already passed by in their wait ). George was happy and saw her suggestion as an easier way to see his wife and a kid he has never met.

George who tried to visit his wife in Moscow but was repeatedly denied entry. In turn, Irina was denied permission to leave the country, without explanation. The two newlyweds marked their anniversaries with cards, photographs, and phone calls.

Over 11 years passed until Irina and her kid Jennie finally received the green light to move to the United States. In late January 1987, she flew into the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Her husband, whom she had last seen a decade ago in an airport thousands of miles away, greeted her and their child with excitement and open arms. Reporters and journalists there captured the heartwarming reunion, and Irina further captured the experience in a book called—''Of Love and Russia: The Eleven-Year Fight for My Husband and Freedom''.

11 Years Of Separation