I want to tell our love story and how we met because I feel like it’s so unique. From how we met, to our difficult and challenging journey of getting married, I want to share it with as many people as I can. I think it’s fantastic and pretty funny. So here is how my mom hooked us up I met my wife.
It started back in September 2014 on a weekday evening. I was sitting in my parents’ house after work one night watching TV when my mom approached and asked me a question. “Do you want to go on a double date with your brother?” I thought for a second and my instant reaction was “Hell no.” But I thought for a second longer and said, “Sure, whatever. What do I have to lose?” I was not looking to date anybody. I didn’t want a girlfriend. I didn’t want to get married. I enjoyed being single and was single my whole life. My mom was starting to pressure me since I was 24 and working full-time, so part of it was just to get her to lay off me. I had told my mom many times that I don’t ever want to get married because it would just cause more problems in my life.
So I asked my mom to give me some details. Who would I be going with? What was she like? When would it be? So she explained to me how there was this girl who was an au pair who took care of three little girls ages 2-6 that took them to the preschool she taught at. “An au what? Au pair? What the heck is that?” She’s from Brazil and takes care of three girls for a family while she lives here and studies to improve her English. My mom told me that my brother had asked her about this girl after his recent break up. He knew about her from a connection with his ex. Earlier that day, my mom had asked her if she was interested in meeting my brother. She was 25 at the time and he was 22. When asked by my mom, she said something to the effect of “He’s too young for me.” That’s where 24 year old me came into the equation. So my mom asked this girl if she would be interested in meeting her 24 year old son instead and she said “Okay.” But that wasn’t good enough for my mom. This girl had to have a younger friend that could go with my brother and make it a double date. She said she would ask her friends and proceeded to give my mom her phone number.
So my mom gave me her phone number and told me to text her on behalf of both of us to set up a double date. I texted her the next night and introduced myself and my brother and asked if she had someone that could go on a double date with us. She told me that the two girls she had in mind didn’t want to go. One said the same thing that he was too young and the other wasn’t interested either. (She now told me that the second girl wanted to go on a date with me, but she told her that I was already hers. She had already stalked me on Facebook and found a picture of me.) So I thought, “Well, I guess I’m gonna have to ask her out myself.” I wasn’t expecting anything and a part of me didn’t want to do it. My mom was begging me to do it, so again, part of me did it just to please her. So I did it.
We scheduled our date for the next Sunday evening, and it ended up not being the kind of day I had hoped for. It was the same day as the home opener for the Jaguars that season against the Colts. I thought about how good this day could be: a Jags win and a nice date in the evening. I went with my brother and as we were walking to our seats I remember seeing the huge new video boards through a crack in the stadium. But then I got a text from her. It said something to the effect of “I’m sorry, but one of the kids got me sick. I’m not going to be able to go tonight.” My first thought was, “Wow. She doesn’t really want to go out with me. That’s fine.” But something told me to try one more time. So I asked her if we could reschedule it for next week and she again said yes. So we made it to our seats only to watch the Jaguars get their asses kicked, but we got to watch rookie quarterback Blake Bortles make his NFL debut in the second half. So it ended being a pretty awful day since I got neither a Jags win or a date, but I did get one last chance the following week.
We scheduled the date for the next Sunday evening, and I asked her if she wanted me to pick her up. She told me no and that she would meet me at the restaurant. So I get there about five minutes early and wait outside on a bench for – I kid you not – at least 30 minutes. After about 15 minutes, I’m sweating bullets thinking there’s no way this girl wants to meet me. Finally, I get the text after about 20-25 minutes of waiting I get the text: “I’m here.” It still took her another 5 minutes to get out of the car and start walking. I finally see her walking and I was stunned. I didn’t expect to see someone that beautiful. I introduce myself and we walk into the restaurant together.
Now, the date didn’t actually go so well. I had only been on a handful of dates in my life. It started by me walking in front of her as the hostess sat us at our table. And I knew I screwed up, but it was too late by then. So we sit down and start talking and I can barely hear a word she’s saying. I’m thinking to myself, “Am I talking to a mouse? I can barely hear her.” I just wanted to get to know her, but it was really difficult because she was still improving her English too. Then she ordered a salad for her entree. I was hoping she would take advantage of me taking her to a nice Italian cafe restaurant and order something better, but she refused. Then towards the end of the date she started choking on her food. And I was like, “Oh no, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” A couple sips of water and she was okay. So I pay the bill and walk her to her car and told her I had a great time (It was more just okay, not great). I gave her the ol’ one-armed hug – which she would later tell me was the worst hug in her life – and said goodbye.
On the way home I was thinking about the date and how attracted to her I really was. She was mostly my type: quiet, humble, smart, and dark hair. I thought she was too skinny for an overweight guy like me (I have now taught her how to eat right). She also wasn’t into sports as much as I was, but if we’re being honest, not many guys, let alone girls, watch and analyze sports like I do. So that wasn’t a surprise, but she did tell me how much she liked soccer, being from Brazil. At least that was something to build on. She was working on her accounting degree back home in Brazil and planning on taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. I definitely thought there was some potential, so when I got home I texted her that I had a good time, when again it was really just okay. And I asked her for her last name so I could add her on Facebook. She took quite a while to respond and I don’t quite remember what else she said, but she did tell me her last name, so I sent her the friend request and she accepted not too much longer. I went to stalk her page immediately and noticed she had changed her profile picture just minutes earlier. I knew exactly what that meant.
Tony and Bela 