Josh And Mariana Met On OH!
January 22, 2013Josh And Mariana: We Met On OH
It all started a few years ago on the 20s message board. Mariana initiated the first contact by commenting on one of my photos. From there, we messaged each other back and forth occasionally for the next year or so. Nothing serious, just friendly hellos and a little playful banter and flirting as any two 20-somethings would do. We remained just friends for about two years. Since I live in CT and she lives in Mexico, neither of us thought it would be any more than that. Then one day, Mariana confessed she didn’t like hearing other women messaging me anymore, and was starting to have feelings for me. I never thought much about it, but when I did, I thought I could have feelings for her back.
Then a day came where we had a chance to meet. Mariana was visiting New York City and Boston with a group of her friends. On Memorial Day of 2010, I took a train down into the city to finally meet this pretty Mexican woman from the 20s board. It was a secret rendezvous; neither of us told anybody the truth about what we were doing that day. It is kind of hard to explain to outsiders the dynamics of the OH message boards. We each had a story made up. Mariana was meeting up with a friend she had met when she studied in Canada, and I was meeting up with a few old college friends I hadn’t seen in a while. It was an amazing day, taking in the sights of NYC and finally meeting each other. It was so difficult to part ways at the end of the day. Especially since we had no idea if and when we would ever see each other again. It was almost heartbreaking, because everything that day just felt so right.
A few months later, we came up with the idea to go to the OH conference in Houston in November 2010. This worked out perfectly because Mariana had her surgery in Houston, and I used to live in the Houston area and still had family and friends I was going to visit while there. I had moved from Houston in 1998 and had not been back since. We were also going to have the chance to meet and hangout with a few other members from the 20s board. It was the perfect trip. Not only did we get to attend an amazing conference, meet fellow young post-ops, and visit family, but we also got to spend days together, rather than just a few hours. Again when we parted ways, it was very difficult. Again with no certain plans of meeting up in the future. We had no label because we still lived so far apart and at this point had no plans of changing that.
After a month or so of being apart, Mariana had the idea for me to come down and visit her in Mexico. This was an impossible idea to turn down. Who wouldn’t want to take a cheap vacation to Mexico? So in March of 2011, I ventured off to my Mexican vacation. Mariana is from a city that is three to four hours from Cancun, so that is where I flew in to. We stayed at a beautiful resort in Riviera Maya with a couple of her other friends. We stayed two nights at this amazing resort before making the long drive back to Merida. Now this was very nerve-wracking for me because I was going away from the tourism and into a real Mexican city to stay with her family. I was very worried about communication because at this point I knew little to no Spanish. I was relieved to find out all of her family and friends had a pretty good grasp of the English language. They were all so welcoming and made me feel like I belonged. It was another great visit with each other, and more personal since I got to see where she lives and meet her family and friends.
This time after my trip to Mexico, we tossed around ideas of Mariana going to school somewhere here in the Northeast so we could spend some real time together to see how things could work between us. We were in no rush for this to happen, but we were really starting to contemplate something a little more serious, rather than just be message board buddies who visit each other periodically. We saw each other two more times in 2011. Mariana came to stay with me for a week in June to see where I live and experience my lifestyle. I went down to Mexico again in November to be her date for her friend’s wedding. After this trip, Mariana had found two schools in Boston that offered a couple of classes she was interested in taking.
In January of 2012, the moment we had waited for was finally happening, and Mariana was here to stay until August. This was it, the big chance we had been waiting for. Almost four years of knowing each other, we were finally going to give love a true chance. This was to test our true compatibility and our desire to pursue something very serious. Within months, we were making plans on marriage, careers, and which country we would live in. As the day we dreaded, Mariana’s return to Mexico, got closer and closer, I decided to surprise Mariana with a marriage proposal. She knew it was going to happen one day, but she had no idea it was going to be before she left for Mexico. I told her I wanted to get some professional photos done before she left. Of course, she loved the idea, but little did she know, it was going to be the day we became engaged. With some planning with our amazing photographer, Stacey Trottier, who is also a cousin of mine, we set up a great surprise for Mariana that day. We now have amazing photos of our engagement for us to cherish for life. This was on August 12, 2012 – 12 days before Mariana was to leave.
Now present day: Mariana is in Mexico getting her business started and getting things ready for the wedding and our future lives together. I am here in CT saving a few dollars to take to Mexico to help out until I can get my business started there. It is a very difficult time for us right now. In March, I moved to Mexico where we will begin our lives together and finally be together forever with no more goodbyes. The wedding was held on a beach in Progreso, Mexico on July 12, 2013.
