In 2005, when a mutual buddy of Kathryn Anne Kenworth and Michael Arend Rozendal tried to set them up on a blind date, Ms. Kenworth demurred. “The stakes on a blind date are too excessive, and I didn’t need my buddy to be bummed out when it didn’t work,” she stated.
Some months later, the identical buddy — to not be thwarted — introduced Mr. Rozendal to a present at Ms. Kenworth’s artwork studio on the Headlands Middle for the Arts outdoors of Sausalito, Calif. Mr. Rozendal was impressed and intrigued by Ms. Kenworth’s quirky anti-consumerist drawings and cardboard sculptures.
“Kathryn was so absolutely herself and immersed in her work,” Mr. Rozendal stated. Unaware that Ms. Kenworth had a boyfriend in attendance, Mr. Rozendal requested if he might learn her palm. “I’ll admit to it,” Mr. Rozendal stated. “It was a intelligent approach to maintain her hand.” He discovered palmistry from his mom whereas rising up in Canyon, Texas.
As he held her hand, Ms. Kenworth, now 55, felt a powerful present of connection. When the present ended, Mr. Rozendal, 50, recommended they stroll to the close by seashore. So Ms. Kenworth left her beau behind. On the water’s edge, the 2 talked for hours earlier than they shared a primary kiss.
Inside weeks, a romance bloomed — and but Mr. Rozendal was hesitant to pursue a critical relationship. For starters, he lived a number of hours north of Oakland — the place Ms. Kenworth then lived — and he was deeply mired in writing his dissertation.
After receiving a bachelor’s diploma in English from the College of California, Berkeley, Mr. Rozendal attended Stanford for a grasp’s in English. When he met Ms. Kenworth, he was engaged on his Ph.D. in English from the State College of New York at Buffalo. He’s now an affiliate professor of rhetoric and language on the College of San Francisco.
Ms. Kenworth, who grew up in Los Angeles, earned a Bachelor of Nice Arts in artwork historical past and studio arts from the College of Colorado, Boulder and a Grasp of Nice Arts in sculpture from Mills School in Oakland. She was an artist-in-residence at MacDowell, the artist retreat in Peterborough, N.H., acquired a Pollock-Krasner award and has been supported by the Leon Levy Basis.
Regardless of his reluctance, Mr. Rozendal was smitten, seeing that their paths converged fantastically. “My life felt so expansive with Kathryn in it,” he stated, “On a regular basis life was so significantly better along with her.” Two years later, in 2008, the couple moved in collectively in Oakland.
Their shared path took a detour later that yr, when Mr. Rozendal left for a yearlong Fulbright fellowship in Bavaria, Germany, and Ms. Kenworth decamped to Europe, touring and contributing to numerous artwork and theater initiatives in France.
They returned in 2009 with their relationship absolutely cemented. But over the subsequent few years, neither felt inclined to marry. They have been raised by divorced mother and father, and each felt the “baggage of the establishment,” Mr. Rozendal stated. They traveled, grew their careers and joined a masters swim crew and started competing in swim meets.
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In 2019, Mr. Rozendal realized he felt one thing that referred to as for a celebration. “I simply felt so very fortunate,” he stated. Whereas on a getaway to Calistoga, Calif., he introduced a hoop to Ms. Kenworth. She requested Mr. Rozendal if he was joking.
“No,” he stated.
“Actually — are you kidding?” she requested once more.
Fortunately for them, her third response was “Sure!”
“It didn’t appear to be it could occur, and even wanted to occur,” Ms. Kenworth stated. “However Michael is really easy to like.”
On Oct. 7, the couple married in entrance of 85 company at Willow Camp, a retreat heart at Stinson Seaside, Calif., only a few miles from the place they first met. Scott Oldenburg, the buddy who had tried to engineer their match practically 20 years in the past, officiated. He was ordained by the Common Life Church for the occasion.
All through the unseasonably sizzling weekend, the couple and their company swam within the ocean, boogie-boarded and loved the seashore. Ms. Kenworth, reluctant to depart the waves, even attended her rehearsal in a moist go well with.
In each of their vows, they referenced Mr. Rozendal’s palm studying. “Who knew once I learn your palm virtually 18 years in the past that the longer term I noticed there was our future collectively,” Mr. Rozendal stated. “That relationship line I noticed was our relationship.” Due to a current swimming collision, Mr. Rozendal’s left ring finger was swollen so badly that Ms. Kenworth needed to put the gold band on his pinkie.
“Once we met, Michael took my hand and made me really feel like probably the most extraordinary individual within the room,” Ms. Kenworth stated in her vows. “And that’s nonetheless true.”
