it was the summer of 2003 and i had just graduated high school. my sister angela had just gotten married and my whole family was traveling to pico, azores, portugal. the island that my dad was born and raised on. this was my 3rd time going there and our cute beach house was just being finished that summer. traveling with me were my parents, my sisters b and angela, my brother paul, my brother in law brian, and my cousins jake and nicole. it was probably the best summer of my life!
my dad decided to have a bbq at our house at some point during our 6 week stay. and my cousin susana was coming over with her husband cesar. well cesar ended up bringing his brother. his name was luis. and of course i thought he was adorable. so so so cute.but my sister b kept telling me that he liked my cousin nicole. i was so upset. of course he would. shes tall and beautiful.come to find out he liked me but b thought that would be funny! and then...i found out he was 15. something that is pretty much illegal where i come from. i even asked him once to see his license cause i didnt believe him and his response was "i dont have one. i told you im 15." needless to say we just were friends that summer. had a blast. even went rabbit hunting together on our last night there. yeah rabbit hunting. right?
when i left pico that year i knew i had found a friend in luis. but really...its not like anything was ever going to happen. i mean he lived half way around the world.
and then it was 2005. and the summer was approaching...which meant pico was too. that year it was just my parents, myself, and my sister b. we went for about 5 weeks this time. and i was now 20. luis was 17. which apparently to me didnt seem as bad? we hung out almost everyday. ok fine...we hung out everyday. and totally fell in love. and luis clearly remembers my last night there, when i was drunky pants in the disco (their club) crying because he wouldnt move to the u.s. for me. ahhahaha. i was either to drunk to remember that or to embarrassed. maybe a little of both. we stayed up partying that night until the sun came up. b and i got dropped off at home at 6:45 and had to be at the airport at 7:45. and still hadnt packed, it was all worth it though. i was so sad to leave luis.
on july 22, 2006 my brother married his long time girlfriend shanin. and my cousin susana and her husband cesar came to the wedding. they also brought his brother luis :) we had stayed friends since the summer before and i was excited for him to come! we dated for that month that he was here. and on july 31st on main st in disneyland, luis asked me to marry him. with this huge fake gold ring that he had bought 10 minutes before. i of course said yes! was so excited. after going to ny for a few days with our siblings luis returned to pico and i came back to california.
i flew out there in august and did all of the interviews etc to get married legally. and i flew home. on september 22, 2006 luis and i were married, by proxy. i was back in california and he was in pico. there you have to have your marriage public for 30 days in case someone wanted to protest it. and i didnt have 30 days to be there so i had to sign over my power of attorney. kinda crazy right?
in february of 2007 i randomly flew out to see luis. my brother and sister in law were nice enough to buy me tickets on a sunday night and i left on tuesday. it was crazy, scary, and absolutely amazing! my parents went there again in august and after shedding enough tears on skype my mom convinced my dad to buy me a ticket again to go see him. that was the best! they invited luis to coffee at a local cafe and they were all sitting there and i walked in. he had no idea. the look on his face was priceless.
when i left luis that time i dont think i had ever cried that much in my life. i had gone thru security 3 times...cause i just kept going back to give him just one more kiss.
