My name is Julian Aristizabal, and this is my love story of how I met my lifelong partner, Jaileth Ortega, in 2013. In August 2012, I finalized all my military training with the US Air Force as an aircraft mechanic and was sent to my new station located in New Castle, Delaware. Since Delaware was only 2:30hours south of New York, I would travel back and forth every weekend to spend time with my family and friends. It was then, during one of my visits back home, that I stopped at a local restaurant where I was welcomed by a nice waitress named Jaileth Ortega. We had a normal conversation, and from that day on, that place became my favorite stop every weekend. I became a regular customer at the restaurant, and with each visit, I was able to build a bond with her that led me to ask her out for a very New York date, a walk in Times Square. She agreed, and that was just the beginning of the story. Even though distance was a little challenge, it definitely didn’t hold us back from nurturing our relationship. Jaileth started to take the bus from New York City to Delaware for the weekends so we could explore new places together. After a full year in Delaware, I was out of military Orders and with a new assignment as a part-time guardsmen, I returned to New York in the summer of 2014. I rented a small apartment in Queens and Jaileth moved with me to start our new journey as a couple. During this time, I was doing small missions with the Air Force to pay the bills while waiting for any updates from a full-time job I applied for with the NYPD. Finally, I received the great news in December 2014 that I was selected to enter the police academy in January 2015. One day, Jaileth was not feeling well, which led us to visit the emergency room, only to discover that she was three months pregnant with our first child, Nicholas. Two years later, we welcomed our second child, Sara. With two kids in a small apartment, I set a goal for myself, to buy a new home where our children could have enough space to play. I worked all the overtime I could, sometimes only getting home to see my kids asleep day after day. After a year of hard work, we managed to find a small single-family home in Long Island. After moving into our new home, I was notified by the Air Force that I was getting deployed to the Middle East for the next 6 months from June 2018 to December 2018. Jaileth supported my decision and assumed full responsibility at home during my time overseas. In June 2021, I was deployed again to the Middle East for another six months, and once more, Jaileth stood by me and our kids, being the steadfast rock, managing our home while I worked abroad to support our family.  She’s an amazing team player, a loving partner, and an incredible mother. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything if it weren’t for having her in my life. For the past few years, our main focus has been our children and achieving financial stability at home. Now is our time to celebrate and be grateful for all this years together as a family.