Valentine's Day

Hello Loves!

We are starting a blog woohoo! I personally love hearing the “how we met” story from our clients and would love to start sharing those and so in honor of it being Valentine’s Day, I thought the first story that we share would be mine. I usually am a pretty private person so doing this is a big deal for me and a little scary to be honest, but here it goes….

The Beginning…

I actually met Luis in kindergarten and he even shows up on some of my old home videos, so if you have kids in kindergarten now watch out because you never know ;) Anyway, he was my first real best friend then, I remember him being like the class clown a little bit, he was always doing something silly and making us laugh. We went to the same school up until he left after 4th grade. I never really saw him again until my Sophomore year in High School, when the boy I was dating at the time was in a Quinceanera, and he was there practicing as one of the Chambelanes. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, except being surprised and happy to see an old friend and catching up. Turned out he was actually best friends with my friend David in my high school, he said they would skateboard together all the time and knew each from elementary school, small world…after that I didn’t really talk to him again until the day of the Quinceanera.

So here is where it might get a little tricky and people might judge us for this, but oh well, I can’t change things and honestly, I wouldn’t even if I could because it led us to where we are today.

The Day Everything Changed

Well, in high school, I was taking a photography class and we had some project to do, it was in the spring time of my Junior year, and at the time, my boyfriend and I were already having issues and trouble and a whole lot of wrong going on, I was already checking out at this point to say the least. Anyway, I asked my friend David if I could photograph him and his friends one day at the skate park doing their tricks for my project and Luis came to pick us all up. That was the day that changed everything. Luis and I got to catch up and it was great just hanging out with him and everyone, it was just this carefree positive energy around them. Watching them all afternoon landing a few of their tricks and then failing or falling on some other ones but they would get right back up and do it again until they landed it. It was a great day, the weather was perfect, and everyone was having so much fun. Luis and I talked throughout the day and he stayed close to me for the most part. I remember thinking, I really shouldn’t start feeling this way with him or stand this close to him or show him attention because I knew where it would lead and I knew it was wrong especially since I had a boyfriend at the time. But the heart wants what the heart wants and when you find that special someone, even though we were only 17 at the time, that connection was real and I couldn’t ignore it. We flirted that day with each other and it made me think that maybe he felt the same way and we could be more than friends someday.

Luis on the left

My friend David above

Luis from the day that everything changed

Skateboard Love

No too long after that day, I broke up with the boy I was seeing for more reasons than just wanting to be with Luis. We were having problems that couldn’t be fixed on both sides and I knew it was wrong to keep it going so we broke up. I spent that summer with David, Luis and their friends going to the skate parks with them, watching them do their kick flips, varial flips, grinding, and going on the ramps and stairs. Sometimes we would just hang out in front of their houses and they would just start skating there and doing their tricks off their porch and staircase. It was amazing to watch and we all became close friends during that summer, they all became my family and we are still friends to this day.

That summer Luis and I hung out a lot, just trying to get to know each other and re-build our friendship. He always made me laugh and never judged my craziness too much ;) He was always adventurous and down to do anything crazy or exciting and it was great being around him. We actually didn’t start dating until the day before he had to go back to his school. He lived in Whiting, Indiana at the time and they started school I think like a week or two before Chicago Public Schools. I really wasn’t expecting anything from him, Luis wasn’t the type of guy that did the girlfriend thing, and I understood. He was young and wanted to experience life and I can understand that and he was upfront about everything to me and I respected that. He never made me promises he knew he couldn’t keep and was always real with me. But I remember the day he asked me to be his girlfriend. We were at the beach the day before school started, I gave him a the key to my necklace charm to remember me when he was at school and when all the girls would throw themselves at him lol corny? a little, but I was 17 so don’t judge :) But he turned to me serious and said let’s try this, let’s go out (back then, that was the way we would ask each other to be boyfriend and girlfriend). I was surprised and shocked and didn’t really know what to think or say. I didn’t know if he was serious since he never went out with anyone before in that way. But I said ok, let’s go out.

Happily Ever After

From that day on, we grew with each other, fell in love and here we are, almost 15 years later with two beautiful kids, one angel in heaven, and happier than ever. Not to say we never had our issues, because let’s face it, there is a lot of growing up that we as individuals do between the ages of 17 and 31, but we were just lucky enough and determined enough to make our relationship work and grow together, through the bad and good times. Luis has taught me a lot about myself, who I am as a person, as a wife, as a mom. I was lucky enough to know him as a kid, a teenager, a man, and as a husband and father. He is my best friend and I’m so thankful for him everyday. Skateboarding brought us together and hopefully we can share that with our kids some day. So here is to all the couples that found love through skateboarding :)