Eliza’s POV
In this bio, I will refer to Roberto as Bets since that’s his nickname, so you’re not confused, lol.
I first met Bets when he liked me first on Hinge. Honestly, it took me a little bit to like him back since I had not had the best experiences on Hinge. I took a chance, and we started talking and had a very spontaneous first date. It happened to be the feast day of the Immaculate Conception. He happened to be in Raleigh, and we both needed to go to mass. He spent the whole day in Raleigh while I was at work just to go to mass with me. So, we went to mass at the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral and then went downtown to get pizza and look at the Christmas lights. It was a great first date, and I was excited to see where it would take us, and now here we are. Bets proposed to me this past Easter Vigil. We went to Greenville to see my teenagers from my old mission job get baptized. After the Vigil, he proposed to me in the churchs parking lot and of course, I said yes. One of the most memorable moments of our relationship was when Bets had a really bad concussion and ended up going to the hospital when he was on leave in Ohio. It was on Christmas day when his sister texted me, telling me something serious was happening and that they’d keep me updated. I was so anxious the whole time and felt incredibly anxious. I know that I had just met Bets, but there was something so different about him and how well we connected that I knew I needed to do something. I was texting his mom asking if Bets wanted me there, and when she asked him if he wanted me there he told her to tell me “You already know the answer to that”. After only knowing Bets for maybe three weeks, I flew to Ohio to be with him and to make sure he was okay. Looking back, yes, it was a little crazy, but I also knew there was something different about Bets, and I knew I needed to be there to ease my mind to know that he was okay. I surprised him, and that same day, he told me he loved me, and I knew I loved him back. Also, that same day when the nurse walked in to check on Bets she saw me, and asked who I was. Bets with no hesitation said, “This is the love of my life”. I laughed it off because I knew he wasn’t fully conscious, but it turned out he wasn’t lying even though he SWEARS he doesn’t remember saying it. It is a little crazy to look back at how fast we knew we were going to get married. Our intention going into this relationship was marriage, and I knew from the time he said I love you that I’d be marrying him. Bets makes me a better person and draws me closer to God. I am so grateful and blessed to have met a holy, strong, and incredible man like him.


Roberto’s POV
Eliza remembers the beginning a whole lot better than I do. At the time, I was battling some memory problems as I had just suffered a concussion. However, I’ll remember as best as I can. Now, I can’t remember who liked who first, but one of us, probably me, liked the other. I remember her tagline being something like, “My love language is all of them.” So I thought about it and snickered at myself when I sent the message, “Which one should I start with?” I thought it was funny, and as I wasn’t really doing anything but sitting on my government-owned behind, I thought I might give this beauty a try. A few weeks and a bad jump later, it was time for Christmas leave. My buddy Smith needed a ride to Raleigh; at the same time, Eliza and I were talking and ended up deciding to meet up that night. I think she might have said she had work until the evening, or maybe she had something with her mom. I don’t remember what the reason was, but she ended up not being able to meet up until that night. I had nothing going on that day other than an empty barracks room with a cloud of rage, sadness, and longing for home. So, I decided to stay in Raleigh until then. I feel like she might’ve said, “It’s going to be sometime before then, so you don’t have to stay if you don’t want.” I’m pretty sure I responded by saying it was no real issue.
I’m pretty sure it was the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, so we met for mass at the cathedral. I had never been to the cathedral but had always heard good things about it. I distinctively remember going to each saint and saying a little prayer, asking for intercession to God so that the date would go well. I stopped a little longer in front of St. Joseph, as meditating and studying him taught me much about being a man of God. When I first saw her, I thought, ‘huh, she’s prettier than her pictures.’ I don’t really remember the mass; I only remember trying to sneak little looks at her. Afterward, her parents invited me to eat with them, but I had other plans for us, so I politely declined and drove us to a pizza parlor. We bonded over our love of St. Joseph, food, and life. As time went on, I swear that she became more and more beautiful.
At the end of the night, I felt that I didn’t want it to end, but I wanted to be responsible and get back to base. We ended up going on three consecutive dates after. During our second date, we bonded over our past experiences and stayed together as long as possible.
Eventually, it was time for me to go home to Ohio, which was eight hours away. The trip was made even longer because I needed to go to Virginia, where I had a storage unit full of my old stuff. The whole trip ended up being over twelve hours as a blizzard had moved into our path. This was a bad choice on my part as it exacerbated the effects of my concussion.
The entire time I was in Ohio, I kept in contact with Eliza. Finally, Christmas day came, and I only remember half of it because I ended up somehow in the hospital. I don’t remember the first three days at all, but somehow Eliza was suddenly there. As she tells it, when the nurse asked who she was, I let them know with certainty that she was the love of my life. I don’t remember it, but to this day, I stand by my words that day.
From then on, we were nearly inseparable. Every moment I could, I spent with her and her family. Eventually, her birthday came around, and to celebrate, we went to a hockey game. I don’t remember what triggered it, but I remember an overwhelming feeling of love and heartache. At that moment, I couldn’t take it anymore and bought the ring. She had told me her ring size, but because of my memory problems, I had it a half size too big. It was agony waiting to ask her. She had told me that if I wanted to propose to her, I had to meet her best friends, Daja and Bridgette. The opportunity came on easter as they would both be there at the same time. The proposal almost didn’t happen because my sister had gotten appendicitis. My family and her’s both said that it was okay to postpone it. However, I am a stubborn man and thought, come hell or high water, she was going to be my fiance by Easter. So I steeled myself and told myself it was just like a jump. So that night, I waited until it was just her, me, and my little brother, long story short, She said yes.