Everyone loves a good love story.
"My first impression of him was that he was really serious," Anna Corbett said, referring to her husband, Ryan Corbett.
Their love story started just as friends more than two decades ago. In fact, it was his sister that Anna was first friends with and that’s how she quickly learned of all of the things they had in common.
What You Need To Know
- Ryan Corbett is a U.S. citizen who has been in Taliban custody for 18 months
- His wife, Anna, and the kids recently learned of one of Ryan's older Austrian hostage-mate's release
- Ryan and Anna recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary a part
- Anna's only heard from her husband on the phone less than a handful amount of times, and fears for her husband's safety and health overseas in detention for so long
"I said yes, and poor guy, I made it difficult for him," Corbett said.
The couple got married at a small church in his hometown.
"He came in this small two-door car and there were three adults and all my stuff," Corbett laughed, “That’s how I arrived to my wedding.”
It was a happy day that, like many wedding days, was filled with mixed emotions.
"It’s funny to see the pictures before the wedding because we look pretty stressed, and then we look a lot more relaxed after," Corbett said. "I actually lost my voice for the wedding so I had to whisper my vows. I lave laryngitis but it was stress."
She describes the day with fond memories.
"There, I was wearing slippers for my wedding," she said while looking at pictures from her wedding day. "Now I’m kind of like, why did I do that?”
She remembers the "happy day" being filled with their loved ones who came to celebrate them as newlyweds.
A couple of years later, they had kids: Ketsia, Miriam, and Caleb.
"You don’t know that when you marry somebody, but then you see how they are with the kids and it’s just really special," she said.
The couple got engaged on March 23, 2003, and married on Feb. 20, 2004. The couple recently celebrated their 20th anniversary. However, things could be better for the family.
"How can it be a happy anniversary when you’re a part like this?" she said.
Her husband has been in Taliban custody for 18 months, and what’s quickly approaching 600 days.
"I haven’t spoken to him since Christmas. When we had our last call, he told me, 'happy anniversary.' And I really didn’t expect that we wouldn’t talk until his anniversary. Until our anniversary. So I’m really disappointed about that," Corbett explained.
The couple has only spoken on the phone a handful of times, minimally, since his detention.
Corbett thinks of memories with her husband fondly. She says one of her favorite parts about him, and their everlasting love, is the friendship.
"He’s a deep thinker. He’s very forthright and likes to talk about a lot of things, but he’s also a lot of fun," she explained. "He’s just very real. And I felt like our relationship, I could totally be myself. And you can’t always be that way with everyone, but I could with him."
She also admired his relationship with God, of which, both of them hold deep beliefs.
"Yeah, look exactly the same. Which is sweet," she described, looking at the alter where her and her husband became one.
"I was standing up there. Yeah, so I whispered the vows. No one else could hear them except the preacher and Ryan. But that’s all that mattered right?" she smiled.
Corbett still goes to mass every week with her children to continue sending positive thoughts and prayers to their husband and father.
"I love him so much I look forward to sharing life again," she explained. "I just hope we can do it again as a family of five again. Thats just what I keep hoping for because it would be really sweet."