Lucky You Have To Be

The last three weeks have felt like three years packed into a blender.

In short: I graduated with my PhD, traveled through Yellowstone with my family, we moved out of our apartment in Boulder, got married in Wisconsin, and then flew with seven overstuffed suitcases all the way to our boat in Tahiti, where we are now preparing for the next big chapter: setting sail. But let’s start at the beginning.

Chapter 1 - PhD Graduation

Yes. I officially graduated with my PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

The final week before graduation was exactly what you would expect from the end of a PhD: exhausting chaos mixed with sleepless nights and mild panic. I had just returned from Italy, where my friends organized an absolutely incredible bachelorette party for me, and immediately jumped into the final sprint of packing up our apartment, finishing work obligations, and somehow preparing for graduation itself.

Sleep became more of a rumor than a reality.

But somehow, we did it.

When my parents, grandparents, and brothers arrived in Boulder, everything shifted from stressful to exciting. The weather could not have been more perfect. Blue skies, sunshine, warm spring air, all of it somehow timed perfectly for the ceremony. Only two days later Boulder was hit by a snowstorm. Lucky you have to be.

Standing there in my graduation gown felt surreal. Years of work, frustration, excitement, failure, learning, and perseverance condensed into one strange little moment where your advisor hoods you and somebody hands you a diploma.

Which means I can now officially annoy Alex by reminding him it’s not “Niccy” anymore. It’s "Dr. Niccy."

Chapter 2 - Yellowstone

After graduation celebrations, which included staying in a beautiful mountain Airbnb complete with a grill, hot tub, and mountain views, my family and I headed off to Yellowstone.

Meanwhile, Alex stayed behind in Boulder because his brother was graduating the following weekend. While we explored national parks, he heroically crammed the rest of our apartment into our tiny Jeep and drove everything to Wisconsin. Honestly, that alone deserves a medal.

Yellowstone was incredible. Once again, we somehow managed to get unbelievably lucky with the weather. Sunshine, clear skies, and wildlife everywhere. We saw bison constantly wandering through the valleys, bears in the distance, and even a blond grizzly bear, which I didn’t even know existed. The geysers looked like something from another planet, steam rising from the earth while entire landscapes bubbled and hissed around us. It was one of those trips where every day somehow became another highlight.

After a week of exploring, we returned to Boulder for two final days dedicated entirely to cleaning the apartment before flying to Chicago and driving onward to Wisconsin.

At that point, life mostly consisted of cleaning and organizing.

Chapter 3 - The Days Before the Wedding

Before the wedding chaos truly began, Alex and I managed to sneak in one fun evening at Slugger’s Bar in Chicago, playing arcade games and briefly pretending life was calm.

The next morning we drove to get our marriage license. Even though we had called ahead, double-checked every document, and were technically fully prepared, there is still something nerve-racking about standing in an office waiting for somebody to decide whether your paperwork is acceptable enough for marriage.

Luckily, everything worked perfectly. Two signatures later, we were officially approved to get married.

Two days before the wedding. TWO DAYS! That timeline felt completely impossible to process. Somewhere in my brain I still felt about seventeen years old, freshly graduated from high school, and now suddenly I was about to become somebody’s wife. How does time move this fast?

That evening was also the first official meeting between Alex’s family and mine at a nice dinner. Between German, English, and hand gestures, everyone immediately got along. Because in the end, good food translates into every language.

Chapter 4 - The Wedding

Then suddenly everyone started arriving. Friends and Family from Germany, Italy and everywhere in the US. People who traveled across oceans and continents just to celebrate with us for one weekend.

And honestly, that part alone was deeply moving. There’s something emotional about seeing people from completely different chapters of your life all gathered in one place. Friends from high school standing beside college friends, family meeting people they had only ever heard stories about. To those of you who made the trip: thank you. Especially Sarah, Kathi, and Jan, you guys are amazing.

The night before the wedding we had our rehearsal dinner with grilled food, games of cornhole, and a German tradition called Polterabend, where guests smash porcelain and the soon-to-be married couple has to clean it up together. Apparently marriage begins with teamwork and broken plates.

Then suddenly it was wedding day. Less than 24 hours later, my dad and I stood outside the getting-ready house, waiting to walk down the aisle together while Alex stood at the front already crying before I had even made it halfway there. He looked absolutely fabulous, by the way. The weather was perfect. Warm sunshine, blue skies, spring flowers everywhere. The next day it rained endlessly. Lucky you have to be.

The entire day felt magical in that strange way where time moves both incredibly slowly and impossibly fast at the same time. There were heartfelt speeches, delicious food, spring colors everywhere, and a permanently full dance floor. Even Bucky the Badger made multiple appearances.

And somehow, late that night, when we finally collapsed into bed completely exhausted, we both just stared at each other in disbelief. It had been perfect. Better than we ever could have imagined.

Chapter 5 - The Days After the Wedding

The next morning was supposed to be calm. Relaxing. Peaceful.

Instead, it became absolute chaos. When we returned to the barn to collect our marriage license, which we had left on one of the tables the night before, we discovered the owner had very very kindly already cleaned everything up. Including the tables. Including the papers. Including, potentially, our marriage certificate.

After searching everywhere, we eventually found ourselves digging through trash cans full of beer cups, leftover cake, and decorations until Kristen, my sister in law, and I uncovered what looked like a wet paper ball covered in frosting. The word “wedding” was barely readable. Panic.

Carefully, we unfolded the soaked paper while trying not to rip it apart completely. Miraculously, the signatures still looked mostly intact.

At this point our legal marriage status depended entirely on wet trash.

Not stressful at all.

The plan became simple: let it dry and hope the county office had mercy on us.

The rest of the day was dedicated to packing. Some belongings went back to Germany with my parents, some stayed with Alex’s family, and seven giant suitcases came with us to Tahiti, mostly filled with boat parts, tools, and sailing equipment.

Then, just when we thought the chaos was over, another horrifying realization slowly entered my brain when we already were on our drive back to Chicago.

Where is my passport? As we retraced every step from the last days, I suddenly remembered putting it inside an old backpack.

The same backpack I had thrown away earlier that day because it was ripped and broken.

Shit. Immediately, Alex called the barn owner, who very kindly agreed to once again dig through the trash.

And there, underneath leftover cake and wedding garbage, she found my backpack.

Passport still inside. Luckily the trash collection happened to be on Mondays not Sundays, so everything worked out.

Lucky you have to be. However, that discovery also meant that we had a six-hour round trip drive ahead of us in the next day. At 3AM, running on roughly three hours of sleep, we started driving. But we got the passport. On the drive back we stopped at the marriage office, where three very amused women examined our partially destroyed wedding license while holding what was quite literally trash-covered paper.

“What kind of cake is this?” one of them asked while laughing.

And then, thankfully, they approved it.

Officially married.

Thank God.

Chapter 6 - The Travel

The following morning we aimed to arrive at the airport at 3AM to deal with the rental car return and our mountain of oversized luggage.

We hoped for at least a little sleep.

Instead, we stayed awake writing thank-you cards until 2AM before finally packing the last suitcase.

Which gave us approximately twenty minutes of sleep.

At the airport, we sat beside the baggage scale redistributing items between suitcases like people solving advanced physics equations while airport employees watched us as if we were a live comedy show. But somehow, every bag made weight. Check-in succeeded.

After explaining to airport security why I need a starter motor in my carry on, we finally made it to the gate.

Then finally, we boarded.

And for the first time in days, we stopped moving.

The flight itself was wonderfully uneventful. Movies, airplane food, wine, and the kind of deep exhaustion where even airports start feeling peaceful.

Apparently the secret to sleeping on airplanes is simply:

1. Have a wedding.

2. Stay awake for 48 hours.

Chapter 7 - Arrival in Tahiti

And just like that, we were back in Tahiti.

A few tropical rain showers greeted us at the airport, but nothing dramatic this time. I flew through the European passport line while Alex collected luggage, and then we somehow managed to fit seven suitcases into the world’s smallest rental car.

I still don’t fully understand how.

By the time we arrived at the marina, it was already late and no dinghies seemed to be heading out anymore. We waited for quite a while until finally a kind man and his dog appeared at the dock.

Luckily, he spoke English.

Even more luckily, he agreed to take us out to the boat once his dog had finished getting some exercise.

Half an hour later we were speeding across the dark water toward Tauha.

And there she was. Floating calmly exactly where we had left her. Perfectly peaceful. Perfectly home.

Back onboard we opened everything up, checked the bilge (thankfully dry), unpacked just enough to survive the night, and made our bed outside under the stars.

And somewhere between the ocean breeze and complete exhaustion, it finally hit us:

We did it.

I graduated with my PhD.
We moved out of our apartment.
We traveled through Yellowstone.
We had the wedding of our dreams.

And now we were back in Tahiti, surrounded by endless boat projects, preparing for the next adventure. The next weeks will be full of boat work, final preparations, and probably at least a few more disasters involving paperwork and trash cans. If you want to follow along, head over to the next blog post. And as always: Thank you for floating along.

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