Our Story — The “Short” Version

They say human history spans a period of 200,000 years—a blink in the 13-billion-year-old history of our universe.

And while short, we know that a lot can happen in a blink.

So maybe it’s not so crazy that for us, one moment — a blink in the night, you might say — changed our lives forever.

We were two kids, each with our own histories (already long – or so we thought), both in search of love and adventure.

And that night, our search took us to the second floor of a restaurant-by-day, club-by-night establishment donned by the lost boys and girls of our otherwise sleepy beach town.

In retrospect… we could have ended up anywhere that night. And even in the 900-square foot, over-capacity, and under-staffed nightclub, we could have very likely never met.

We could have missed each other completely.

Had we blinked, we may have missed each other. But we didn’t.

That night the world conspired to bring together two searching souls… and through grace, dedication, and love … keep them adventuring together.

And while we are so incredibly proud of the relationship we’ve forged, night one wasn’t exactly out of a Nicholas Sparks novel.

The rundown is more or less summarized as follows:

• Miguel: tired from “working hard” (before he knew real hard work) … by some accounts, was friendly but not outgoing that night (side note, Miguel is well known for falling asleep while “out” with friends before ramping up to above-average levels of party).

• Andrea: the ever bubbling socialista (Andrea is famous for her candor and humor and often becomes the party) was making the rounds, dancing with her friends, and taking her choosing of which courting gentlemen were willing to buy her and her friends drinks.

• Friends: common friends from college introduce Miguel & Andrea (who had attended the same university but never met). The two kids are polite to one another, have a light “what-do-you-do” conversation before finding common ground, realizing they both work downtown.

• Miguel: realizes why Andrea and him never met in college… he was a nerd and Andrea seemed really fun. Actually, he becomes convinced that she’s absolutely wild after hearing about her pink wig Nicki Minaj costume and that she “loves” Vegas in the first 2-3 minutes of conversation. Now energized by Andrea, Miguel, the ever-adventurer, moves to break light conversation and asks if she ever “rides the mechanical bull.”

• Andrea: Weirded out by the question but intrigued, now shows her suspicion. It is her turn to observe whether this guy is a bore or fun. She takes a few long pulls on her drink and surveys the room, noting her friends’ drink levels and wondering if she’ll at least get a drink out of Miguel if he turns out to be boring.

• Miguel: Now absolutely focused, doubles down on the bull. And informs Andrea, with utter conviction, that the most cultured way to pay homage to the restaurant-club was — in fact — to ride the mechanical bull. Committed to the bull, Miguel ends up riding the bull, falls quickly, realizes that it’s not cool, but gains points for making Andrea laugh, who again erased her suspicions and returns to bubbly before giving her number to Miguel to meet for lunch downtown.

And so a journey would begin. Indicative of the first night’s ebb and flow — our journey has been one of navigated extremes together: high energy/low energy, high positivity/low positivity, ballin’ spending/budgeting, free time/no time, Europe/Asia, Paleo diets/Ramen, great work-life balance/worst job ever, and so on.

And most of that ebb and flow, comes from our polarity.

People who know us well, know how different we are, which is evident even in our shared passions.

• We are particular about our coffee. We like to grind the beans before we use the French press and have the water at exactly 180 degrees. Miguel adds MCT oil to his coffee for the rumored effects on the frontal cortex whereas Dre adds collagen for the rumored effects on nails and hair.

• We love food. Miguel had to read a 400-page book on cooking to make one lasagna dish. Dre can make a gourmet meal out of 2-3 items from the pantry.

• We recharge by traveling. Miguel regularly asks strangers (with the fewest words possible) if he can take their newspaper to read on planes and at the airport. Dre misses no pleasantries if she wants to ask someone for directions or to get around them. NOTE: Andrea would never ask a stranger for anything unless absolutely necessary and Miguel would never ask anyone for directions.

How different we are is what makes us “forever material.” We like being different.

Time has shown that even when we felt we were on different paths, in truth, we’d been on the same road all along, just a few steps away from one another, pulling the other — sometimes in front, sometimes behind, sometimes close, sometimes not, but never apart.

The journey since that night has been an adventure. We’ve cried our deepest cries and laughed our deepest belly laughs. And the truth is, that it’s all felt like it’s gone by in blink.

10 years. If you can believe it, that night on November 2011 was the first of many together and 10 years later will lead to another special night, our wedding night. One that I hope you will share with us.

We’re grateful for all you (our friends, family, coworkers) have given us over the years to help us get to where we are today and invite you to share in our joy, luck, and love on May 22, 2021.

And remember… try not to blink, because you may miss something special.

With Love,

Andrea & Miguel