I'd been working at World of Discovery Summer Day Camp in Bayside, Queens for over ten years. But that summer, Victor showed up as one of the new drivers. I'd often steal glimpses of him from afar, thinking to myself, "Damn! That has to be the cutest bus driver ever!" I then started to notice him here and there, walking back from the park, where he’d work out during his breaks. One day, I expressed my interest in Victor to my camp driver, Chanel. "Sooo, you know who's really cute?" She lit up right away—she knows all too well how picky I am. And from that moment on, her plotting began. A few days later, with zero warning, she secretly waves Victor over to our bus when I wasn't looking. "Jena, turn around!" I turn, and there was Victor, standing in the stairwell of our bus. My stomach dropped—instant sparks. I didn't know whether to be mad, excited, or simply pass away. But thank God my sunglasses were on, because I was sooo nervous. And I did not like it! With my heart racing, I managed some small talk about work, ages and hometowns. He told me he was from Elmont and was 30 years old. I caught Chanel winking at me from behind—we were about the same age. We finished the convo of what felt like an hour but was probably a total of four minutes. And the moment he walked off, the bus filled with 37 teenage girls erupted into screams. I was shaking my head at them trying so hard not to smile, but slowly dying inside with excitement—I'd just talked to my future husband for the first time. Later that week, Chanel runs into Victor and tells him he has a secret admirer at camp. He gets all shy and starts blushing, immediately knowing it was me. He hands Chanel his phone number to pass along to me. His interest really starts to build now—“Who is this girl, and what’s she all about?!” Victor patiently waits for my text. But a week goes by and nothing. So now his curiosity deepens. He starts asking all around camp about me. He even tells his counselor that he is interested in me. But he hasn’t got a clue that I’m too hesitant to reach out. Chanel then calls me that same week. She tells me Victor is wondering why I still haven't texted him! I told her about my worries, doubts and fears of talking to someone new. She then tells me something he asked that changed everything. "Chanel, is she a good girl?” That question melted all of my hesitation. I finally decided to text Victor that Friday afternoon in August, hoping and praying he really was a good guy. Little did I know, he would become my whole entire world. My forever. The One. 💛

It’s October 2024, just a few months before my deployment, when I decide to buy Jena her dream ring—with a little help from her best friend Alexa, who’s way better at this sort of thing than me. She ultimately leaves the decision completely up to me—bold move, Lex. When the ring arrives, I panic slightly about where to hide it and end up stuffing it inside the pocket of an old jacket in our Whitestone apartment, figuring, “Yeah… this should be fine.” Turns out, it actually was. For ten months, Jena walks right past it without ever noticing. Then deployment happens, and after months apart, all we want is to be together. Over countless FaceTime calls, we start planning this huge bucket-list trip across Asia, a place Jena and I always dreamed of visiting. We stay up late booking flights, arguing over which cities to hit, and laughing at the miniature hotel rooms in Japan. The more we plan, the more excited we get. But before any of it can officially begin, I know there’s one person I need to speak to first. On the morning we’re supposed to leave, Jena runs back inside to grab a few last-minute things, and I pull her father, Alberto aside. I tell him I need to talk to him about something. Apparently, I look nervous enough to concern him—which, honestly, fair. Alberto squeezes his eyes shut, immediately worried that something bad must’ve happened between us. Little does he know—it’s quite the opposite. I tell him how much Jena means to me, how happy she makes me, and how much I love her. I then ask for his blessing to marry her. He looks at me, cracks a huge smile, and pulls me into a hug. “Claro que sí, mijo! Bienvenido a la familia.” Honestly, that hug was the real proposal for me. We go on to explore Asia together. We bathe elephants in Chiang Mai, island-hop through the beautiful waters of Phuket, go-kart through Tokyo like we’re in a video game, and eat amazing ramen & sushi that I still think about. After eight flights, seven hotels, and twelve cities, we finally make it to Bali—Jena’s dream destination. We’re standing at the Tegallalang Rice Terrace and it's awesome; definitely her scene. There are people everywhere which makes me more nervous because crowds are not my thing. With the clock ticking and a few hours left before we board our flight back home, I get down on one knee and ask her to be my wife. The second I propose, people start chanting “Yes, Yes!” in these funny accents, while the terrace echoes with screams and cheers. It's ridiculous in the best way possible. She says yes—obviously. And somehow, after ten months of hiding the ring in a jacket pocket to carrying it across the world, it finally ends up exactly where it was always supposed to be: on Jena’s finger. From the first time I saw her in that camp bus stairwell to popping the question in paradise, I realized our greatest adventure was never a place—it was each other. My home was never on the map. It was always her. ✨