This is a little peek into our story. You must be warned, I am a romantic. I believe in love, fairytales and UFOS.
In case you didn’t know , I am from Costa Rica. That’s also where we met. I grew up in a colorful town in the middle of the capital – San Jose- in the heart of my country. Most part of my childhood consisted on trips to the country, where my mom grew up, so you can say I grew up with a healthy combination of city and jungle surroundings. Adam (the husband) grew up in Olivia, Minnesota, among the snow , woods, and corn. Adam stayed with our family for a high school Spanish trip back in 2001 . That’s many, many years ago.
This is how I remember it: my mom woke up a very lazy fifteen year old me to go and pick up the Minnesota boys who were going to be staying at our house for a while. We picked them up in the closest fire station. In that magical fire station is where we first met. He says it was love at first sight. I just remember thinking he was cute but I was also mostly very sleepy… as it was around 6:30 AM. Shortly after we started talking and talking and more talking. We had so much fun and yes, we clicked.
He was (and is) the nicest person I have ever met, so kind-hearted, respectful, caring and thoughtful. I still have a letter he sent to us in a very cute Spanish introducing himself and what he liked to do. He put together an album with pictures of his family, his town, his car and his friends. In the last day of his one-week stay, we made a promise of seeing each other again someday.
Fast forward a couple years later, Adam came back to stay and study in the University of Costa Rica for 6 whole months. He stayed at my parents house again and even went to my school with me. We were inseparable and so much in love.
After this six month trip, Adam started college in Minnesota and I started college in Costa Rica. We met another time in Spring break, but that was the last time for a while. We both worked too and eventually decided to keep a long distance friendship for a while. Our timing was off for these years, but we would always turn to each other to talk and find support in anything. Adam wrote me when the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, when he lost a girlfriend. I wrote him when I started doing photography, when I planned my first trip out of the country. We always kept in touch and talked in the phone every now and then. He was always my constant and my “What if”. I was always his “Someday”.
Fast forward five years. Throw in there some more letters, dedicated songs, a couple of broken relationships and many chats. We had complicated adult lives like everyone else, trying to figure out where to work was already so hard. At that time, I was moving to a new apartment and Adam booked a trip to come to Costa Rica another six months.
After maybe a week of us being back together, we realized quickly we belonged together. All the complicated things revolving around us started to matter less and less. We had so much fun that year of being back together! We traveled all around Costa Rica, we traveled to Nicaragua, and then to Minnesota. We made good plans, we sat down and made really good plans! Shortly a year after, we got married in my parents living room in 2010.
Then again in 2011, with all of Adam´s family.
Long distance was hard, but I think I have learned being away was harder. We always knew we were the best for each other. Marriage is an adventure that has changed us, and made us stronger. After I moved to Minnesota we faced different challenges and we had to learn about ourselves so much more. It’s a fun thing that we have met for so long, and that we have changed, oh so much! But the essence of who we are and how much we love each other never changed. That’s what we hold on to 🙂
