Love at First Sight!

Ma <3 Pa

I think I’m in love with love.  Maybe saying that I’m in love with love may not be the right term, but this is what I mean: I believe in everlasting love.  I believe that its possible for a man to love a woman, but like really love her…displaying it without caring what people say or think.  I also believe its possible for a man to love a woman his whole life…without waiver.  At times, I’ve tried to shake this feeling.  Come on Mish.  That’s movie stuff…what they use in fairy tales to brainwash us.  Its unrealistic, so quit setting your sights so high.  But then, I think of my parents.  And while no relationship is perfect, true love is sometimes unmistakable.  True love is what keeps you holding on through the bad and what makes you feel like you’ve stepped into Utopia during the good.  But how do you know?  How do you know when ‘he’ (or ‘she’) has been sent for you?  In this world, where a person can change their feelings like they change their underwear, how do you know that your not signing up for heartbreak when you let down your guard and you let him/her in?  Is this it?  Is this THAT love?!  Can that love ever be guaranteed?

My grandmother was a single mother with three children.  She worked “like a slave to make sure my children were taken care of.”  Then, one Saturday, she took her boys to the park, like she did every Saturday because she “needed to keep an eye on them and they never went alone.”  That Saturday was different though.  Victor Vasquez was in the park.  Victor saw my grandmother and instantly fell in love.  Nowadays love at first sight is a myth.  Something we dream about, something we read about in fairy tales.  Most women would melt in the arms of a handsome, intelligent (he spoke 7 languages…3 fluently) man, totally in love with you, with a good job and ready to take care of you and your kids.  But not my grandma.  Nope, she was a woman scorned.  She had fallen head over heels with a handsome fellow once before and she wasn’t going to do it again.  

So, what did Victor do?  He found out where she worked.  He showed up to her job everyday and offered her a ride home.  She would often walk right by him without a second glance.  One day, it was raining.  Victor knew for sure that Mama was going to accept his offer to drive her home.  What woman would choose to walk in the rain and deal with New York buses and subways over a simple car ride with a handsome gentleman caller?  So, when Mama walked out of work, Victor called out to her “You can’t walk home in the rain.  Come on, let me give you a ride.”  Mama responded with a huff “I’ll be fine.  I’m not made of cardboard." and with that she went home, alone.   Victor never faltered though.  He told her, “I will love you until the day I die.  I won’t give up because I can’t.  There’s no one else but you.”  So, when Mama changed jobs to shake him off of her, he found her.  And finally, after two years and not one date…Victor’s dreams came true…Mama finally agreed to marry him. 

Now, Mama stayed away from Victor for good reason, as well.  She had heard a lot of things about him.  Mostly, that he really had a sweet tooth for the ladies.  After Mama’s experience with Norberto, as well as seeing her own father wander about as he pleased, she gave him one warning, “I’m not having it.  There will be no other women but me.”  To that, he quickly responded, “There is no other woman but you.  That is what I’ve been trying to tell you.”  And he kept his word. 

Once they were married Victor, after seeing how hard Mama worked for her children and to make ends meet, wouldn’t allow her to work.   When they were older he fell into the hospital and underwent heart surgery.  Thankfully, he survived.  Shortly after he got out of the hospital, he turned to my grandmother and said “I don’t know how much longer I have here and when I go I want to know that you have your house. ” 

Initially, Victor had plans to purchase a house for her in New York, but after his heart surgery, the cold weather didn’t fare well with his body.  So, one day they went to Puerto Rico on vacation and never came back.  “He kept his promise.  He bought me this house that I still live in.  He loved me until the day he died and he loved my children like his own.  God blessed me with that man.  I tell you, I never thought he’d go before me…” a glaze falls over her eyes as she continues, “…he was so strong.”  What Mama doesn’t realize is even if she would have gone first, Papa would have been right behind her.  After hearing that story, I don’t think he could have lived without her. 

Papa <3 Mama

It was love.  True love at first sight.  It does exist!  But see, Mama wasn’t ready to accept it.  Victor knew that and because he loved her, he held on.  According to her, he couldn’t do anything but wait because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that this woman was his.  It was just a matter of time.  Victor had paciencia y fe (patience and faith) I guess.

So, the love we dream about…is it really possible for all of us or is it just the luck of the draw?  Either way, I still think I’m in love with love…