Lee Klawans and Gry Haukland got married on the ledge of the Willis Tower Skydeck. The couple met over Neil Steinberg's page on Facebook and Lee proposed only days after meeting Gry in person.
Facebook! Truly the ultimate in social networking...
August 28, 2009 by Max Rottenstein
As I sat in my favorite neighborhood cafe last night, still wiping Gry Haukland's lipstick from my cheeks and feeling the feeling one only gets from being in a special place in a special time and knowing you've been woven into the fabric of history.
I should clarify right here, Gry and I are just friends, but Gry did get married yesterday to Lee Klawans on the south ledge of the Willis Tower Skydeck; officially, the first wedding since the building's renaming. That does not even begin to unwind the magic at work here.
Just like her and her new husband, Gry and I became aquainted through another Facebook friend's page. In Gry and Lee's case, they met over a quip made on the Facebook page of Chicago Sun-Times op-ed columnist Neil Steinberg. And the two started a relationship. The amazing bit here is that Lee and I live about twenty minutes away from one another here in Chicago and Gry lives in Norway.
Over many months and many online conversations with Gry, I found her to be a charming soul and a truly engaging personality. To say the least, I looked forward to the day I could meet her in person.
Gry flew over here to Chicago a week and a half ago to meet Lee Klawans person for the very first time. Here is the part you are just going to love, last Friday Lee asked Gry to be his wife. Just like that! Crazy? When you think about it, this is kind of the thing that Facebook is meant for.
Facebook is not only meant to bring us together and inform us about the ones we know, but also to connect us with the ones with whom we maybe have no idea about. The recreational aspect of Facebook that many of us know and love, games, the applications, the lists, they definitely enhance to content, but they are all fringe benefits added on to the core of the social network. And in this case, the network worked like a charm; perhaps that is why this whirlwind marriage seems to make sense to me, because the system worked.
Today Gry returns to Norway, she'll be back soon. When I asked her how things would work out with the long distance relationship, her smile grew a mile wide and she just said, "it'll work out fine!"
Neil Steinberg played a big role in the momentousness of this day. One could say he gave the term arranged marriage a whole new spin. Steinberg arranged for the rabbi, the Skydeck, and the scrumptious luncheon at Harry Caray's afterwards...all week I had a craving for crispy polenta. All this thanks to Neil Steinberg, and all this virtually impossible without Facebook.
So I vaulted the last piece of Lee and Gry's wedding cake in my freezer, I will forever remember this day. It was not only a unique little day in the history of our city, but also truly a testament to social networking.
I should clarify right here, Gry and I are just friends, but Gry did get married yesterday to Lee Klawans on the south ledge of the Willis Tower Skydeck; officially, the first wedding since the building's renaming. That does not even begin to unwind the magic at work here.
Just like her and her new husband, Gry and I became aquainted through another Facebook friend's page. In Gry and Lee's case, they met over a quip made on the Facebook page of Chicago Sun-Times op-ed columnist Neil Steinberg. And the two started a relationship. The amazing bit here is that Lee and I live about twenty minutes away from one another here in Chicago and Gry lives in Norway.
Over many months and many online conversations with Gry, I found her to be a charming soul and a truly engaging personality. To say the least, I looked forward to the day I could meet her in person.
Gry flew over here to Chicago a week and a half ago to meet Lee Klawans person for the very first time. Here is the part you are just going to love, last Friday Lee asked Gry to be his wife. Just like that! Crazy? When you think about it, this is kind of the thing that Facebook is meant for.
Facebook is not only meant to bring us together and inform us about the ones we know, but also to connect us with the ones with whom we maybe have no idea about. The recreational aspect of Facebook that many of us know and love, games, the applications, the lists, they definitely enhance to content, but they are all fringe benefits added on to the core of the social network. And in this case, the network worked like a charm; perhaps that is why this whirlwind marriage seems to make sense to me, because the system worked.
Today Gry returns to Norway, she'll be back soon. When I asked her how things would work out with the long distance relationship, her smile grew a mile wide and she just said, "it'll work out fine!"
Neil Steinberg played a big role in the momentousness of this day. One could say he gave the term arranged marriage a whole new spin. Steinberg arranged for the rabbi, the Skydeck, and the scrumptious luncheon at Harry Caray's afterwards...all week I had a craving for crispy polenta. All this thanks to Neil Steinberg, and all this virtually impossible without Facebook.
So I vaulted the last piece of Lee and Gry's wedding cake in my freezer, I will forever remember this day. It was not only a unique little day in the history of our city, but also truly a testament to social networking.