Eastwood High School.

It was the beginning of the school year my freshman year, when I began to run into this sophomore skater boy on the way to Health; my 2nd period of the day. It started off with him randomly stating "Hi" out loud as I walked past him to get my attention. Then, as the days went on, he would stick his hand out to give me high fives as we passed each other, tell me I looked pretty, or say anything to get me to pay attention to him. I began to look forward to our 5 second encounters even though I really had no idea who he was. November 16, 2005, he handed me a red balloon as we were passing each other. I kept that balloon and wrote the date on it because anything I felt was meaningful back then, I would place into a box I had at home. (I still have that balloon to this day, in that same box.) Two days later, I was getting up from the booth during lunch to head back to class when I heard him shout from across the cafeteria, "Will you be my girlfriend?!" I just gave him a thumbs up and rolled my eyes thinking it was all a joke, but when I arrived at school the next morning, guess who was standing at my locker? ...

Adam & I never had what anyone would consider an actual relationship in High School. I really only saw him when he'd walk me to class in the mornings, occasionally throughout the day, and then after school I'd walk with him to where his family would pick him up at the end of the day. I'd look forward to the love letters he'd leave in my locker or pass me when he'd meet me to walk me to class. In reality, he was really like a best friend who would hold my hand when he'd walk me to class and kiss me before he'd go to his. Things didn't end up working out back then, but that was okay because we ended up keeping in touch and remained good friends.

I honestly never believed Adam & I would ever be anything more than just "best friends." He was always the boy who loved me unconditionally in my mind, but I never believed he'd be anything more than that.

God however, had a bigger plan.

It was November 2019 when he contacted me to let me know he was coming back to El Paso and I decided to meet him at Tropical Smoothie. There was a lot that had changed between the both of us in all those years that passed. He was definitely not the 18 year old boy I last saw. I was 29 with a baby of my own and had just started my career as a School Nurse. It wasn't until I saw how he was with my daughter, and how he was willing to accept me and all that I had become, that I started to fall in love all over again. I began to let him in little by little until we finally decided to make things official. & the rest is history.

Destiny.

I’ll never forget the day when I first saw Destiny...

I have trouble remembering the smallest things like where I placed my car keys, etc. but I can tell you in almost exact detail what Destiny was wearing that day almost 15 years ago; blue jeans, black and white polka dotted vans with polka dotted top and a black zip up hoodie with bows in her hair. I found myself starting to take a route that was completely out of my way just to be able to see her and I was almost late to class just about every single time. I was trying to get her attention by forcing her to give me high fives and give her random things like a balloon and some flowers I ripped off someone’s yard. We met and started a friendship that would surprise us and last almost 20 years. Life hurled us into different directions for sure, but throughout the chaos and confusion we found ourselves back once again in front of each other. The time matured both of us.

Fast forward to 2024 and here we are with a little family of our own, about to celebrate our wedding together and to go through the rest of our lives hand in hand.