March 29th
was mine and Juan’s 5th
wedding anniversary. It does not feel like that long at all. Here is our love
story.
Juan and I have
known each other since 6th grade. He was a cool kid and I was the
new girl in town. I didn’t
know anyone. Everyone knew Juan.
Everyone was somehow related to Juan. He
liked me and I didn’t like
him. He would call me and write me notes. It was cute. Juan got transferred to
another school for 7th and 8th grade. Then high school
started. We saw each other in 9th grade all the time. But nothing
ever happened. We totally missed each other 10th and 11th
grade. We were in the same school but never ever noticed one another. Until 12th
grade. We had study hall, homeroom, and lunch hours together. I worked at the
ymca and he worked out all the time. We began to notice each other a lot more.
Hanging out during class, hanging out during lunch, and then eventually talking
more at the YMCA. We just started becoming just really cool friends. We
exchanged numbers and then I totally forgot that I was taking a trip to Idaho
to check out college. I didn’t
receive his calls and he gave up on calling me. I felt really bad and when I
came back from Idaho I explained why I didn’t answer and gave him my number again. he called me and we
started dating. He ended up really shyly asking me out on a date to the movies
to see Stomp the Yard. We went on our very 1st date bowling (not the
movies like he asked me to) and I wore jeans and this light blue shirt with
tiny apples all over it. We became official February 2007 and then went on my
favorite date to Philadelphia. We took the bus super early in the morning and
spent the entire day walking around all the big buildings. We went to the art
museum and the Franklin institute. While trying to get a bus back to my house
so I wouldn’t be late for
curfew, the bus left us! Somehow we missed it. Juan chased the bus for what
seemed like forever banging on the side of it to try to get it to stop but it
didn’t. I remember I was
thinking about how much trouble I was going to be in because I was going to be
so late for curfew. Juan called his brother Chris and he picked us up and
brought us home. I was home in time for curfew and my grandma never knew a
thing! Then we continued dating. Then we went to prom together. Then we skipped
school together. We graduated together. We spent every waking moment together.
The night before I left for college, we wrote love letter to each other. We promised
to stay together through the distance. I remember the feeling like it was
yesterday. I thought my life was ending. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t
want to be without him .I cried. He cried. I remember just swinging in the
swing in the back yard and just holding each other so tight. We didn’t want to let go. We were each other’s
everything. It was us. So that night, he proposed to me. With a little $30 Wal-Mart
ring. It was beautiful. I said yes! So much love. What we had was special. He
was the one. The world could have been on fire and we would not have cared. We
were in complete and beautiful bliss. We had that all consuming love. Do
anything and everything for you kinda love. I was terrified to leave him. To go
through months of life without him.
But I did it. We
talked every day almost all day. I had a $300 cell phone bill to prove it.
Being in love is expensive! We argued most of the time I was away. After the
semester ended we seriously considered eloping. But because of the family we
decided not to. We got married March 29th 2008 in Woodstown NJ.
Honeymooned in Orlando. We had a beautiful wedding and reception. I remember
arguing the night before our wedding. We were painting a lattice together but
it was a cold and we of course were scared about our wedding. I remember I got
my eyebrows waxed the day before and when I got my makeup done for the wedding
you could totally tell. We left the reception and stayed the night in Atlantic City,
hopped on the plane the next day to Orlando. And about 2 weeks after getting
married we drove out to Idaho to start our new lives as newly married college
students. It was a 4 day drive. We stopped every night to sleep. We had our pet
hamsters with us. I sang the whole way there, we so much of the cereal Reese’s
Puffs, the smell of it still reminds me of driving cross country. It was
snowing when we got into Idaho and we were so scared being on the road in the
dark with a ton of 18 wheelers in heavy snow. It was terrifying.
We got to our
apartment around midnight. Before I left Idaho to go back to NJ and get
married, I found us an apartment. I had no idea what it looked like, where it
was, nothing. I just knew we needed a place and the place I found was $375 a
month. As soon as we got there I cried. It smelled like mildew. It was tiny. It
was not cute. Or homey. It was sad looking. I was sad.
Our very first
apartment was a 3 story building. We lived on the 3rd floor. 311 was the number. After we started hooking
it up it was the cutest little one bedroom. It was ours. It was our home.
About a week into
living in Rexburg we both got jobs at McDonalds. Then the semester started soon
after that and Juan got a job on campus doing early morning custodial and I got
a job talking on the phone in Spanish for a local company. Life set in and things
were good! The tiny little burgundy 1990 Honda accord that got us to Idaho finally
died. It wasn’t ready for these winters! The winters were
a shock. It was the most snow we had ever seen! The apartment we lived didn’t have parking; we had to walk about a block
away. If you parked out front of the building on the street you were towed.
In October 2008 we
were sealed in the Rexburg Idaho Temple.
Some fun things
from our first place Apt 311:
People
just kept inviting us to play board games, video games, games, game, games. It was
kinda weird and we never went. We’re not that big into games. Juan likes his Xbox,
I like my phone.
We
met some neighbors that quickly became our friends. One day Juan was walking
down the hall and saw Zach holding a gun out in the open. That’s allowed in Idaho! Not where we’re from! Then we needed help with our car, I think it got
stuck in the snow. Zach came out BAREFOOT walking in the snow to help us with
our car. This guy is nuts. But totally awesome. We met Ina & Tyler. The
sweetest couple ever. They became our best buds. It was fun living down the hall
from them and then upstairs from them and then down the street from them and then
across town… always had issues with their apartments!
We
hated living wall to wall next to people. For all the obvious reasons.
When
someone would set the fire alarm off EVERYONE evacuates. The whole angry
building. Learn how to cook or everyone pays for your late night baking
accident.
One time we got a ferret. It was an
impulse buy; we took it back a week later. It kept attacking Juan’s feet. Probably cuz they reminded the ferret of other ferrets
J
We
had this ugly old broken couch! It was free, just sitting out in front of our
place. We took it in. it was so broken it needed phone books under the
cushions. Good times.
It
was awful taking groceries up to the 3rd floor.
Getting
a Christmas tree was interesting. I insisted on a real tree. We ended having to
clean up all the pine needles.
In 2010 we moved
to a duplex, the rent at 311 was increasing with no benefits along with it, by
the time we left it was $425 a month. So we moved to a place better priced for
what we were getting along with it to $475.
May 2010, Noah
Benjamin joined our little family! This
story will be in another post
August 2012 Elijah
Antonio made us a family of 4! This
story will be in another post
Now we’re in 2013. We have had our ups and we have had our downs. We have an amazing life and times get difficult but we are blessed with such a magical miracle. LOVE. We had gone through a lot in our separate lives before we got together. We had to work on ourselves together, we had to be there for each other while we try to repair. Our childhoods were rough and we are not "fixed" yet but we have each other to hold on to when things get to hard to handle on our own. We have each other when life is stressful. with school, work, & kids life can get pretty busy. We are working toward something we didnt get the opportunity to enjoy as children. We have this beautiful little family to share all of our love. We are still learning and growing. We are still
getting the hang of marriage and parenting. We have big dreams and lots of hope
for the future. I am more in love with Juan than ever. My high school sweetheart was the best
boyfriend ever. Now i get to call him my husband, the man of my dreams. We have grown up together (still
got lots of growing to do for sure) we have something that I thought didn’t exist in real life, only in fairy tales.
Some don’t believe in “the
one” or “soulmate”
but I believe he was meant for me. I feel like what I have with him I could
never have with anyone else and it could never be recreated. What we have is
just that special. The way both our
backgrounds are, they way our paths crossed, the timing. All of it was by
divine intervention. We are meant to be.
I love our story
the best because its unlike any other. It’s ours, only ours.
I love you babe
<3
