By: Arthur Webster
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I met the love of my life in October of 2015. I was just finishing my studies in French and German linguistics and literature at the University of Victoria and was in process to work for the Canadian government in the foreign affairs department (my dream job). Well, all of that changed and rather quickly. I met her as she was studying English in Victoria B.C and we made a deal that she would teach me some Spanish and I would help her with English conversation. One thing led to another and after just two dates I asked her to be my girlfriend at the top of a hill overlooking the ocean. There was a problem though. In just two months she would be going back to Bogotá. How could we make a meaningful relationship out of just two months; I mean, usually, in those two months one is just getting to know the other person. As time passed and December approached we had to make a decision…well I had to make a decision. Do I continue with my future plans that were very well established? Or do I follow her to Colombia and see where she and life would take me? I remember asking my mom for advice and she told me to follow my heart and take on the adventure of getting to know not just her but also a country ,culture, and language of which I had the slightest clue. On the 21st of December, I brought her to the airport and we said a very teary goodbye and expressed how much we had learned from each other in just two months. I wrote her a huge letter to better put my thoughts and emotions in words (always a good thing to do) and promised that I would come to Colombia; I did and here I am. We have been together ever since and have spent every day of the last three years and three months deeply in love. You never know where life can take you, who you can meet, and how your plans can change.
By: Connie Maya
Call me a romantic, but I believe true love does exist. Now, had someone told me this 17 years ago, I would have simply smiled and thought to myself, “She/he is a dreamer; there is no such thing...whatever makes her/him happy.” Life has taught me that when you least expect it, God/Destiny/Life/ Fate/Someone puts you in the path that is meant for you, and it is up to you to make the best of it. Sometimes we ignore the signs because we might be blinded and busy with things that life throws to us, all at once, that we miss the opportunity to meet THAT ONE SPECIAL PERSON; however, there are moments when we do embrace the signs. That was my case. I ended up becoming a teacher at Las Pachas, which I thought was impossible. Then, I taught in the same level as my husband, but we never really spoke to each other until the fourth term (we had four terms back then). Later, he was supposed to go to a summer course in the States, and I had plans to leave the country, but it did not go as planned for neither of us. Soon after a few movies, some dancing, and many telephone calls, we realized we were meant for each other and complimented each other very well. We got married 11 months later and have been happily married for almost 16 years with a wonderful son. Dr. Seuss once said, “You know you‘re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
INTERRACIAL LOVE
By: María Isabel Sanz
When you asked me to talk about the love in my life specifically related to my husband (because I can talk about love in many aspects of my life), I felt a big happiness because it means to talk about a very big gift from God! And it´s not only because of him as a person, but because of everything that I have received through my marriage and what I have learned through it. I have learned many things about love and life through my family: Love each other until death brings us closer, as Sister Glenda says in one of her beautiful songs.
Maybe you think that if you fell in love with somebody, you would just need to be corresponded…. But it is not true at all. You may fall in love with someone who corresponds you, but he or she might not be the one you are expected to be with because of different reasons. I can talk about what happens when the one you are in love with is not “white” as you, but BLACK: an afro Colombian man. And it doesn´t matter how many times you listened to your parents saying they were not racists, because when the one who is dating that afro man is YOURSELF, everything changes….
You can´t imagine all the obstacles that can appear in the name of love, as the only way to know them is to live them! When my parents knew I was dating a black man it was really difficult for them, especially for my mom. Anyway, I fought day after day to show her how wrong she was - even more when I had learned from her about God´s love, which accepts all, understands all, forgives all and gives all. I couldn´t understand the way she was acting against the real meaning of the gospel.
Anyway, I continued my relationship with him and my mom had the opportunity to know him. Unfortunately, this happened during a moment where life surprised us with an illness; she had cancer. However, this also meant a way of seeing life differently; to value it sincerely for what really matters.
They had the chance to share many memories before she died. My mother had the big opportunity to talk to and learn from him the way love makes everything real. We think we know many things about love and talk about it as something important and a priority but when it has to be shown, it seems as if it is impossible. Of course, this is not during the good times, but in the bad ones, as you promise when you´re getting married. Ariel helped my mother experience real love, because she could fight against social prejudices and open to the way Jesus thought about love. She accepted him as a human, as someone who I loved and who wasn´t biased because of his race.
Today I can say that the same is happening to me. He is the one who reminds me day by day the importance of little love details, the way in which love is shown, with acts, not only with words or beautiful things. In difficult moments, he's always there with the precise thing, word, look, smile, hug and even lovely correction. That´'´s because he's clear in the way we are helping each other to get to heaven. I thank God for giving me a BLACK MAN full of God, who shows me with everything he is, the real meaning of love, which is very far away related to races.
