FOREVER US!

We met one early evening, 17 years ago, at a Walmart in Albuquerque. Roland was on a mission to buy dog food but appears that he had other intentions as well. Joseph, on the other hand, was buying knives (claims he was buying them for his Subway restaurant; but maybe he knew a stalker would be outside Walmart waiting for him). As Roland was putting his dog food in the trunk of his car, he sees this CUTE guy walking down the sidewalk – Roland thought, "Oh my goodness, who is that hotness coming this way?” Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Roland cheerfully said, "Hey, how's it going cutie?" Joseph, as conservative as he is, mumbled "Good, how are you?" and continued, with knives in hand, to his Ford F150 pickup. The brut truck attracted Roland even further. Not knowing what to do next, Roland quickly backed out of the parking lot, FLASHED his taillights to signal, "Hey cutie, follow me!!" (as if Joseph would know the "signal") -- but low and behold, Joseph noticed "this strange behavior" and contemplated his next steps. Roland pulled out of the parking lot and saw Joseph closely behind him -- with all fingers crossed, SCORE!!! JOSEPH FOLLOWED ROLAND!!! Roland took a few random turns on streets to confirm that Joseph was still following -- SCORE!! JOSEPH CONTINUED TO FOLLOW!! Roland randomly pulled into a church parking lot (I guess Roland wanted to impress Joseph) and parked -- SCORE!! JOSEPH PULLED UP ALONG SIDE ROLAND!! Roland thought, "Now what do I do – AWKWARD. Be your extrovert self and get out of the car!!!” Roland did so and approached the driver’s door of Joseph's truck -- hesitantly, Joseph only rolled the window down a few inches (keep in mind, Joseph had knives in the truck!!). Roland was not sure if Joseph could even speak English -- but little did Joseph know Roland was fluent in Spanish, if needed. Roland: "This is awkward, but I am glad you followed me -- my name is Roland." Joseph: "Hi." (Roland wondering "Can this guy speak English??") Roland: "What are you up to at Walmart?" Joseph: "Not much." Roland: "Do you live around here?" Joseph: "No." Roland: "I think you are really handsome. I would love to get to know you. Would you be interested in going on a date? I am really nervous, but I am glad you followed me." Joseph: "Cool." Roland: "What is your name?" Joseph: "Joe." Roland: "What do you do for a living?" Joseph: "Not much." (Roland thinking, "OK, this is going over like a lead balloon.") Roland: "Well here is my number, please call me if you would like to go out for a drink or lunch or a movie (Roland thinking, "Movie is probably good, this guy is not a conversationalist."). Look forward to hearing from you." Joseph: "Yeah." Roland: "Take care; bye for now." Joseph: "Later." WHEW!!! That was tough. Roland got back in his car and thought, "Damn he is cute, I HOPE he calls but likely not because he didn’t seem interested -- I don't know if he even understood me." Low and behold, Roland's phone received a text FROM JOSEPH!!!!! The text: "Roland, it was a pleasure to meet you. You are very handsome as well and I would love to see you again. It would be great to meet up soon!!" "HUH??!!?? This guy grunted and mumbled everything out of his mouth like a Neanderthal!!! And now he texted a novel and in full sentences with correct grammar and punctuation?!?!?!" From that day forward, little did we both know, our lives would be forever changed. We had our first date 2 days later and have been inseparable till present day. The initial lust progressively turned into a magical relationship that continues to become stronger and stronger. 17 years later, through ups and downs of a normal relationship, we are PERFECT for each other -- our physical, spiritual, and mental connection is strong and our respect for each other, within our relationship, is what will carry us forward UNTIL DEATH DO US PART!!

A year ago, on a Saturday morning, Roland said, “let’s go look at rings.” Thinking it was a “FUN” thing to do to fill our Saturday morning, little did Roland know, things would take a turn. We went to IMAC jewelry store in Nob Hill (trendy jewelry store, of course) and spent a good hour trying on about 30-50 rings. We left the store with the store owner wondering if we would be back. About 1 month later Joseph returned to the jewelry store and ordered the rings. Joseph, being the wonderful planner that he is, thought, “MARCH 26, 2022 will be the date!!” Tremendous planning (sneaky, again) went into the millions of details that would culminate in that special day – Joseph spent hundreds of hours searching the web for ideas, coordinated efforts to receive packages ordered, talked with friends about coordinating “the day”, and ordered food, drinks, cake and decorations to make “the day PERFECT for the man he loves”. Roland, on the other hand, was oblivious to all the planning that was going on around him. Roland is typically astute (so he thinks) about all his surroundings, but not this go around. 1 month before “the day” – Roland got this crazy idea to invite Joseph to a local play happening on MARCH 26, 2022 – Joseph thought, “NO!!!! This cannot happen!! How do I tell Roland “no” without breaking the secret??? UGH!!!!!” Joseph gave Roland excuses, and, in turn, Roland got upset but Roland let it go thinking “I will revisit this play later with Joseph because we are going to the play come hell or highwater.” On March 19th Roland purchased the tickets to the play – Roland told Joseph and this time Joseph said, “Alex and Vanessa invited us to their house for dinner on March 26th, we cannot go to the play.” Roland was livid – so livid that he did not speak to Joseph from March 19th till March 24th, not even “hello”. Joseph met up with his friend Evelyn and asked her “Am I doing the right thing? He is not even speaking to me because of this play!” Evelyn reassured him that he was doing the right thing. Fast forward to early morning March 26th, Joseph said to Roland, “Let’s dress up today so that we can go to Chimayo for breakfast and my Mom’s mass at the Santuario!!” Roland, being the stubborn red head, was still upset – but dressed up wondering “Why do we have to do this, and I cannot go to the play?” We had breakfast at Rancho de Chimayo restaurant and Joseph proposed – Roland was in shock; in fact, a “heat wave” came over Roland. Roland could not believe what was happening. Of course, Roland said “YES!!” Meanwhile, everyone was wondering IF Roland would say yes given his absurd behavior the previous week. Events that followed during that day: 1. Joseph proposed and Roland said YES; 2. They went to church which was intended to be inclusive of the souls of our deceased Mother (Joseph) and Father (Roland); 3. Drove back to Albuquerque (we are holding hands; but Roland still thought “Maybe we can go to the play tonight to celebrate our engagement”); 4. Attended a graduation party at Leslie Rico’s house (also used to buy time for what came next!!!) We left the graduation party and drove back to our home in 4 Hills Village – Joseph tricked Roland again saying, “Let’s go freshen up to go out to dinner” – Roland thought, “If we go to dinner we won’t make the play.” We pulled up to our house and there were 50 cars parked in the street close to home – Roland, as confused as he was all day, said “Our neighbors are parked in our driveway, damn them!!” – but quickly realized that there were about 50 people at the house to celebrate the engagement. As Roland exited the car, everyone yelled “SURPRISE!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!” THE DAY WAS BEYOND PERFECT (screw the play!!) – our house was impeccably decorated; the food was delicious, and we literally danced past midnight in the lanai!!! #EngagedAF