How Angel and I Met
This week is a special week for a number of reasons:
It’s finally our wedding week
We’re celebrating our 10 year dating anniversary
To commemorate these special milestones, I thought it would be fun to share the story of how Angel and I met. Granted, the story is only from my perspective so you’ll have to ask Angel for his take. 😉
The short answer is that we met at a college church retreat.
The year was 2010. I was a freshman in college and I signed up to be a staff member of our school’s church retreat. On the day of our staff retreat, we were split up into different committees. I don’t know if Angel noticed me, but I noticed him right away. He had this “bad boy” demeanor about him — with the tattoos, hat, large t-shirt, saggy jeans — but he also had the kindest eyes, the warmest smile, and the most contagious laugh. He was perfect.
Now, I don’t remember what happened after our staff retreat, but I do remember leaving for the summer without telling him how I felt.
Fast forward to the fall semester where we both ended up on the same committee on our school’s church retreat again. We also saw each other a lot because we both studied communications, and we attended the same mass on Sundays. Before mass, we would play this game we made up called the smile game, where we would try to make the other smile. I remember my opu (tummy) having butterflies every time I saw him.
In between the time we met and started dating, I was already praying for my future husband through my journal. I first learned about praying for your future husband from Jackie Angel (Francois), an American Christian musician and speaker from California. So when I met Angel, it was crazy how he matched everything I had been praying for. We went on one “unofficial” first date to the movies and one “official” first date with my dad (to Red Lobster!) and have been inseparable ever since.
Ten years flew by so fast. Angel, if you’re reading this, I hope you know how much I love you. I can’t wait to marry you this weekend and I’m looking forward to growing old with you and going to Disneyland when everything gets better.
As excited as I am to share our lifetime commitment with you all, I can’t help but also feel heavy for the girls that feel like failures because they are single or in a relationship that is not maturing as fast enough.
If you’re that girl, I want you to remember that you are not a failure if you are not engaged / married after dating for so many months or years or by a certain age. Being engaged is not the end of success. The wedding is not the end of success. Being married is not the end success. This reminder weighs heavy on my heart because I used to be that girl.
Enjoy each other’s presence, especially now during this global pandemic. We’ve been given the gift of time so make the most of it!