Okay, strap in ladies and gentlemen as you read the story of these two people who fell in love due to the literal stars aligning. Of course, this has been written by Jessie, so for any fact-checking, you can go talk to Michael about that. We will start with my (Jessie’s) side of the story and then go on to Mike’s.

So this was the year 2020 before the world ended. I hadn’t been home (Nicaragua) in almost 2 years since I traveled to Southeast Asia for a bit during my vacations; needless to say, I missed home, its food, and its breathtaking scenery. I decided to come home for Spring Break given that I had an internship lined up in NYC for the summer and I could not go on without going home. I was excited to get to hit the beaches and lagoons that I grew up so accustomed to. Anyways, I fly home, thinking I was just going to be there for like a week (the world hadn’t ended yet). My mom is super happy to see me and to have me home. We do the whole quick catch-up and whatnot, and I casually mention that my “booboo” (the small cyst I have had on the back of my head from age 12) has grown a bit. She asks to feel it, and oh boy, this lady went full Latina on me. She completely flipped out and told me that I had to remove it immediately. I told her that I wanted to get to do some outdoorsy and aquatic activities before that and she DID NOT CARE. Flash forward to literally the next day, and I am at a surgeon’s practice. Yup, to remove the darn booboo.

Booboo was gone, but I was all patched up with strict instructions to not exert myself, to not go outside in the sun, and yes, you guessed it, no beaches or lagoons. Was I mad? OF COURSE. But more than anything I was bored. My mom was at work, her husband was at work and my brother was at school. I was bored in the house and in the house bored. So what was the LOGICAL solution to my loneliness and boredom? Oh yes, the swipes, the man shopping, the infamous TINDER. Honestly, with the actual hole I had in my head, my intention was never to meet anybody or engage in any “activities” with them, I just wanted someone to talk to and tell me I was pretty.

That is where the fun began, in a game of swiping and boredom, I found Mr. Mike Albers. I, obviously, swiped right on him because he looked cute hehe. He opened up with a very clever line (in my bio I stated I wasn’t into casual things which really just meant I wasn’t open to hooking up). Mike opened up the conversation with “I see you are not casual about those gains either”. Oh lordie, he stroked my ego just right. That line itself meant way more to me than any of the other comments about how pretty I was or how lovely my face was. This man saw and recognized my years of battle and hard work straight from the start. He definitely had my attention, to say the least.

We started talking right away and there I found out that he was a Marine and that Nicaragua was his next placement. I thought it would be a pity that we would never meet since I was to return to Richmond in just a few days since I had surgery and I was just in Nicaragua for spring break. We proceeded to follow each other on Instagram (I deleted Tinder because I got way more attention than I asked for and it was just exhausting to keep up) and continued talking through there. Not going to lie, the conversation flowed really well despite my constantly trying to impress Mike and trying to appear as interesting as possible. It was all a flirting game and, honestly, very thrilling.

Then, 3 days before spring break is over, my school sends a mass email letting us know that we are to not return for 3 weeks while they figure out what this whole “COVID” thing is about. I get excited because I think, “will I, then, get to meet this man?” I instantly give Mike the news and we are thrilled just to find out that the meeting would not be as simple as we imagined…

MIKE

He had been in the Marines for the past 5 years at this point. Half of it was spent in the US and the latter half living in other countries providing security at the US Embassy in said countries. He was finishing up his placement in Frankfurt, Germany when he was given somewhat of a choice of where to go next. Sadly, the way they are assigned location is their name and pick go into a whole ass algorithm, basically a lottery, so the chances of you getting what you want are very slim. In fact, you have a better chance of getting the exact opposite countries. Anyway, He decided that Latin America was the next place he wanted to visit. Unfortunately, Mike had already been to nice cushy places so the odds of getting anywhere "nice" were very very slim. After scouring the options of the western hemisphere, there were only one or two possible options that he thought might have a chance. My man saw Nicaragua fit into the qualifications and was a Latin country and his mind was instantly flooded by the images of curvy ladies with big hair and big lips. His choice was extremely easy. Such was his excitement that my man went ahead and purchased TINDER PREMIUM, and pinpointed his location to Nicaragua so that he could hit the ground RUNNING.

The joke’s on him though. Although he was forming connections and whatnot, just 1 week after he set foot on Nicaraguan soil, he got placed in quarantine. Once his quarantine ends, the whole country goes on a Covid lockdown. So next thing you know, as the world is ending and each of us is confined to our living quarters, we become each other’s lifeline. He was the first thing on my mind when I woke up, and the last thing I heard when I went to bed. I would get up and instantly grab my phone to find a good morning message from him and we would talk until late on the phone every night. Needless to say, by then, my university has told everyone to stay home and that we will finish the year off online. My internship in New York fell through given that the city was one of the epicenters of the pandemic. So now we have two love birds stuck in the same country and unable to actually meet. At this point, I ask him if he wants to be my summer husband given that I will remain in Nicaragua at least through the summer, a request he gratefully obliges to without knowing he would fall hopelessly in love with me to this day wuahaha.

Time goes on, restrictions start getting lifted. We were able to go from clandestine grocery store dates to actual restaurant dates. At this point, I really like this guy and I am sensing something greater than just a summer husband so I want him to meet my mother. Stressed was an understatement to how I felt about him meeting my mom because I had made a promise to myself that if my mom did not like someone I was dating, I was going to immediately break up with them (I learned this lesson the hard way, unfortunately). Thank God my mom loved him! The fact he showed up with a bouquet of yellow roses for her didn’t hurt either hehe. Despite communication back and forth being kind of tough we got through the afternoon and he had the stamp of approval. From that moment on, Mike was able to visit me at my mom’s house and our relationship just took off.

Through visits and dates and trips, the summer came to an end and the realization that our summer love was done started to settle. Despite feeling scared of the unknown, we both knew that what we had was real and that we at least wanted to give it a shot. We both knew long distance sucked, but we just couldn’t throw all we had lived through for the last 5 months. And so we did it. I went back to school for the fall of my senior year and we did long distance for a couple of months then I came back to Nicaragua to be with him and my family for the holidays. I was completely and irrevocably in love with this man now. I could not consider my life without him so now we had to sit down and talk about the future and how that would look once he was done with the Marine Corps and I was done with school. We both agreed we wanted to stay together and thus the planning began.

Mike finished his assignment in Nicaragua in March of 2021 and he was able to request placement in Quantico, Virginia while he finished off with all the paperwork and miscellaneous items to get out of the Marine Corps. During this time he would take the train every weekend to arrive at Richmond and be with me. Shortly after, I graduated and we moved to Dallas, TX where we have lived happily ever after through job changes, apartment mishaps, and the adoption of our wonderful fur baby, ONYX!

Thanks for reading our story and being a part of the celebration of our love.

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Hampton Inn & Suites Dallas/Frisco North-Fieldhouse USA