Aloha

It all started at work, just a regular day at my cubicle, when Lizbet came over, chatting about a trip to Rosarito, Mexico that she and Carlos had been planning. I casually said, “Okay, I’d like to go,” and before I knew it, she was booking the flights and handling everything else. It kind of just happened—and I went with it. When we arrived, Kurt and Alfredo were already at the LAX airport with others who were also going on the trips—ready to take us across the border. Funny enough, I didn’t see much of Kurt during the trip. Our paths didn’t really cross until one night when I got sick. He came back with medicine. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it stuck with me. On the way back home, something told me to ask him for his number. I mentioned wanting to go to Hawaii, and that opened the door. And the rest? It's history. We've been together ever since—18 years now, going on 19. We’ve built a full, wild, beautiful life together, raising eight children—six here with us and two waiting for us in heaven. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t expected, but it was meant to be.