Show and Tell - A Love Story Part Four (finale)

This is the final installment of the the Mel's Show and Tell series titled "A Love Story". Previously, in our last episodes I revealed a few coincidences and circumstances that brought my husband and I together. If you wish to view them you can find them here. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Please stop by Mel's and read what the rest of class brought to Show & Tell. Today I'd like you to see the last of what brought us together, but most certainly it was only the beginning.

Mr. Marvelous (or Marvy for short) and I had become friends during the first six months we met in 1997. I was finishing my last year of high school in Guatemala. Their school system runs January through October. I knew that by the time January came around I was going to leave to return back to the states, because I wanted to go to college. I also didn't want to get involved with someone just to have to leave. I couldn't help it really. We started dating in June that year. Amazingly, it only took about a month before we were talking about marriage. We also talked about children then too. But, I was eighteen and knew that I had about four to five years of school ahead of me so I told him we would marry around then. He said we were going to marry in three to four years.

Eventually, the day came that I had to leave. Poor Marvy. He was devastated. After I walked into the terminal and he wasn't able to see me anymore he walked to his car and wept. My mother saw this. Since he worked at the airport, he waited outside the runway to wave good-bye to me as the plane took off. We had no idea when we would see each other again. In fact, since he was trying to obtain dual citizenship the government had his passport locked up in paperwork purgatory so there was no way he could come up to see me even if he had the funds to do so. It was a very difficult lonely time. When they say long distance relationships always fail, I of course disagree, but I can't deny how hard it was.

Then almost a eleven months later Marvy was able to leave for two weeks to come visit me. He had given the dates to his grandfather when he was leaving, purchased the tickets, etc. Two week before the scheduled trip Marvy was driving trying to cross a busy street. There was a chicken delivery motorcycle guy that was going so fast in and out of cars, Marvy was never able to see him. The guy hit the back of Marvy's car flew over the trunk and landed safely in a muddy patch of grass narrowly missing a huge concrete pillar and a metal sign post. The Guatemalan police were just across the street and saw the whole thing.

Marvy was so worried he was going to end up in jail. In fact he pulled his spare glasses out of the glove compartment so that way he wouldn't have to worry about his contacts while in jail. Guatemalans aren't exactly the pillars of uncorruptedness. And being an American, it's usually difficult to be innocent until proven guilty. He was so worried that he wasn't going to see me. It really was a miracle what happened next. The police took down all of the information, checked out Marvy's insurance, and they made sure the guy was okay. And when everything checked out okay they let him go. They themselves even admitted that this was a new thing and that two years ago they would have been fishing for a bribe to keep him from going to jail. It's funny now, because that "new thing" didn't last very long as they quickly went back to their corrupt ways about a year later.

Finally, the day came that we were reunited. I drove to the airport to pick him up. Even though I was nineteen, the driving thing was new. He was so impressed. Two days later he stumbled across a job at a financial firm and just never took the return flight back. Almost ten years later, he still works there. I do too actually, I've been there for eight years. Funny thing is that everyone always assumes that we met while working for this company. Ha! If they only knew!

When the time came to getting married, we decided to have it in Guatemala. Both my family and his parents and his family were still there and we figured it would be neat to get married where we met. Plus, it was going to be much less expensive there than stateside. It was such a fun wedding. The ceremony took place at the church and a cake reception afterwards. Then the real reception was later that night at my friends mansion in Antigua Guatemala. It's a neat colonial style city outside the capital. Women actually made plans for two dresses to our wedding; one for the church and one for the party. The tables had huge centerpieces with tapered candles. It was truly spectacular

But, here's the cool part. The church we married in is an English speaking non-denominational church that was founded for expats sixty years ago. Decades prior to us going there my Uncle Julio's family used to go there. My grandparents (on my father's side) have been there. When I was a kid, in our kitchen we had a porcelain plate with a photo of this church given to us by our family that considered that church their home. It hung over the stove. I used to stare at it every morning while eating my cereal. Marvy had been there many times during his childhood, as his grandfather was on the board of elders. I never imagined that that Church was going to help me survive the terrible family situation I was living in as a teenager nor be the place I would meet and later marry my spouse.

If you've been following this series you'll know that my grandmother's basement has been a treasure trove of photos that link Marvy and I together. Well, of course us getting married in Guatemala is no different. Here is a photo that she had of the church taken in May 1978. The wall facing the street has a stain glass window.

Here's a photo from our wedding at the same church in May 2001. Note the same stain glass window at the top.

You know writing this series has been good for me. (And I appreciate all of you sticking around to read!) I have run across many of these things and thought to myself, "Huh, that is pretty neat." But, then you keep going and you loose the amazing part of the whole thing. I think it's also helping heal some of the heartache of my infertility. Because if I think about it, we really have a remarkable story. How could I not expect that we will one day end up with a remarkable story of how we have become parents.

This has been our Love Story, and of course it's still just the beginning, because soon we will have one more piece to add to that story.