May 7, 2005 – we departed in our good ol’ faithful yellow jeep * scanned photo by Julie Stiefel *

I met Juan in September of 2002.  I had just moved back home a few months prior.  I had been living in Colorado the past four years and was home sick.  I came home with zero intentions of meeting my husband.  There was no way a New Yorker was husband quality for me!

May 2004 – college graduation

It was a few weeks into the semester at college.  We both attended Nyack College in NYC.  We had some mutual friends and one day, while sitting with these friends between classes, Juan came up to say hello to everyone.  They introduced us and as polite as he is, he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.  Now don’t think he was being fresh.  There are two things you should know.  If you are from the east coast, you know it is common practice to greet each other with a kiss on the cheek.  (I don’t know how common it is elsewhere in the United States.  Perhaps there is a greeting in your neck of the woods you would like to share?)  The second is that Juan had gone around the whole table greeting each person with a kiss or handshake and when he got to me I think he didn’t want to be rude and greeted me the same way.  With that simple greeting, sparks flew within me.  I don’t tell many people that but it is true.  It was like two things needing to belong together finally found the other; as if our lives were being intertwined right from the beginning!

November 2005 – celebrating six months of marriage

Am I being overly romantic?  Possibly.  However, I remember the way I felt when he first said hello.  And as Renee Zellweger says in Jerry Maguire, ‘You had me at hello’.

I really didn’t put cake in his face.

My love, You had me at hello!

September 2007 – pregnant with our daughter Velda