"I Fell In Love with A Homeless Man And Married Him" — Emmy Abrahamson

It's been fourteen years since Emmy Abrahamson sat on bench at Leidseplein, in Amsterdam and moments later a homeless man came to her, sat next to her and proposed love — not knowing they'd be married two years later.

(from left to right: Vic Kocula, Emmy Abrahamson)

This is an unusual thing to happen. Homeless people are usually not so keen on initiating conversations, especially those of romance — but not this guy, not Vic!

Emmy comes from a diplomatic family. Her dad was a foreign correspondent and she had grown up in Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands and the UK. So conversations at the dinner table about politics, literature and recent world events. Emmy herself has a master's in text and performance studies.

When she met Vic she was 30, living in Vienna and still healing from a previous 4 year relationship. So she wasn't looking for love, especially not in Amsterdam.

It was in September when Emmy had flown from Vienna to Amsterdam for a freelance job. One Sunday evening Emmy was waiting for her friend on a bench when a man wearing rags asked for her time — his hair and beard dusty and, strangely, he had a worn out briefcase in his possession. The briefcase had alcohol, sweater and a sleeping bag. Emmy gave him a chance and a few moments later, Vic was making her laugh, unfortunately the friend Emmy was waiting for finally arrived and she had to leave.

Vic said they would meet the following Saturday, at three o’clock, on the same bench and walked away. Emmy and her friend were left in disbelief.

Emmy was sceptical about meeting with Vic, his appearance and stench had put her off, but even so she'd found him intriguing and surprisingly, for a homeless man, he was full of life; so she went, Vic came 30 minutes later riding a kiddies BMX. Emmy was angry but Vic said he was sorry and he'd only come late because he didn't think Emmy would really come.

(Emmy and Vic on their wedding day, across a volcano in 2008)

They spent the next six hours together, walking around Amsterdam, having a picnic and getting to know each other. Emmy found out that he was a 25 year old named Vic Kocula and he was from Poland but grew up in Canada.

Vic was homeless because after working as a tow-trucker and in other various low-income jobs in Canada, he decided to travel around Europe. When he ran outo of money he decided to live on the streets while hitchhiking from country to country. If the weather allowed, he'd sleep under the stars and if it rained he found a bridge to sleep under. At that time he was living in a bush that had a cardboard floor and a tarpaulin roof.

(Vic and Emmy with their twins, Desta and Til)

Emmy and Vic met three more times before Emmy had to go back to Vienna. They'd grown closer but Emmy still fought these emotions be unlike her, Vic was uneducated. He was an alcoholic, no career or source of income, no home and he was 5 years younger. Vic had no phone but gave Emmy a mobile number and took hers all the same.

Emmy soon returned home, and a few weeks later, on a Monday morning as she was getting ready to go to work, her cellphone rang. It was Vic, he was in Vienna. He'd worked and saved for a train ticket — the rest was history and two years later they got married with the presence of both their families.

I wonder where was Vic's family when he was sleeping on the streets though, whether they were looking for him or not!?

Anyways two years after getting married, they were blessed with twins, Til and Desta. Vic is now a mechanical engineer and they live in Emmy's old family house, in Sweden.

(Emmy's novel : how to fall in love with am man who lives in a bush)

"People think I "saved" Vic, but I think it’s the other way around,' writes Emmy

Vic and I both had our prejudices to overcome. In my family education is everything and I soon realised Vic’s family had the opposite view. Vic’s dad was a bricklayer, his mother a cleaner, and no one in his family had gone to university. Vic was raised on the mantra that ‘real men don’t study’ and he spent most of his high-school years getting high and skipping classes, and yet I believed in him and could see how intelligent he was and what a waste it would be if he didn’t push himself.

After a lot of convincing and encouragement he agreed to study mechanical engineering as he had always had an interest in machines" says Emmy on her novel, How to Fall in Love With a Man Who Lives in a Bush.