My love and I are in quiet debate on when we should celebrate our anniversary.  I celebrated it as most super sentimental women would.  I began counting a year back on 7/5/13. That was the date of his first email. On Friday, he sent me a message that it was one year on October 31st, a date in the middle of our first trip.  I had to correct him with proof of my travel.  The first time we laid eyes on each other was late in the evening 10/27/13. I do not know why he insists the 31st other than he remembers it a week before my birthday.  How could he ever forget though?

It was my first time leaving the country, my first time meeting him, my first time traveling through Mexico to Cuba, and I spoke little to no Spanish. I was a nervous wreck when I reached Cuba.  My phone had long since stopped working. He scolded me for this later but when I got there I laughed in relief as we hugged. In his mind he said it was very loud and everyone turned to look at us.  I would still hold the opinion against him but later he described the first moment he saw me in a different way and I began to understand that I was not the only one to be nervous.

From our first conversation beyond simple introductions I knew I wanted to marry this man and start a new life with him. I have been called crazy so many times by people that have known me my whole life.  I have even questioned my own sanity at times as I drag myself into bed after a 60 hour work week but that first night after meeting him, everything just slowed down and I knew that not just that moment but everything in my life was okay.  When I looked into his eyes I knew that he was the one.

We had what some would describe as a horrible first meeting.  My love contracted chicken pox.  All but the first three days he had fever and was in incredible pain.  Many would have ran but not me.  As I said for some strange reason nothing about us sizzled with passion or a mad burning rush.  Something about us together just made sense and made sense of everything around us.  We quickly fell into sync and continue to everytime we are together almost instantly.

He describes himself as a serious man (he is very much so and also painfully private) and yet as we go through pictures from my first trip to my most recent still arguing the dates since we must list them for our visa petition, I notice he smiles easier and without prompting.  It makes his first impression of me more true. Just a few months ago he told me finally that when he first saw me all he could see was my smile and it made his heart fill with happiness that he had not known before me in his life.

He is my heart and I am his life.  Quite a weighty pet name right?  Mi vida.