Alejo: We ended up playing on the same soccer team by chance. And we started talking during the social events of the team and then we really enjoyed each other’s company to the point that we planned a trip to new york, shortly after we met. The rest is history.
Monique: I moved to Pittsburgh ‘after’ COVID in Spring 2021, in doing so I was trying to meet new people and make friends; I joined two different soccer teams. The second team was the friendlier of the two, we ended up all hanging after our games. We started talking and learned we had a shared interest in road trips. And that’s where it all started. Nearly two years of friendship and adventures later, we chose to start our romantic relationship together, and here we are!
Alejo: It happened during a trip because that’s what we like to do together.
I planned a vacation to a special location for the two of us. I chose the place because it has both the beach element, and it has a little chapel that looked very cute that I thought she would like. So that day we woke up and I was very insistent on goign to this beach and struggling to find reasons to go to the beach without raising suspision. It was a little bit more walking than I thought once we got htere. As we were approaching hte chapel, I knew my sister was nearby and when we were in her camera’s range. When we finally got to the front of the stairs, a fisherman caught a giant fisherman, and Monique was very distracted by the Octopus, but also struggling to remember my speech. I got myself together, and in this special moment despite the octopus. I started telling Monique, that I lover her a lot, that I really like her and that I have a very important question. And right before I said anything she asked, woah, what’s going on. And then I got down on one knee (the wrong knee) and took monique’s hand (which was the wrong hand) and asked her if she wanted to marry me. We btoh got emotional, and she said yes!
Got up gave her a big hug and told her everything was being recorded.
Monique: On day 3 of a surprise birthday trip to Portugal Alejandro wanted to go explore a beautiful beach just south of Porto. We arrived at a still sleepy practically empty beach. Just off in the distance there happened to be a chapel, and I enthusiastically wanted to go see it. Upon approaching the chapel Alejandro got more nervous, and me more concerned, until I noticed he stopped. Right in front of the steps of the chapel on the rock, he asked me to marry him.
Alejo: She asked me out first. We were in Toronto, and we wanted to go out to eat at Pai’s. We sat at the bar and we started talking very honestly about each other. And next thing I remember is her saying that the ball was in my court. I wanted to make sure we knew what were signing up for, and it went way better than I thought.
MT: I’m not entirely sure. Looking back it’s hard to tell when our ‘first date’ really was.
Alejo: I really like how intentional and thoughtful you are about everything you do and say.
Monique: He’s my type of weird. A more serious answer is that he’s incredibly thoughtful of and committed to the people he loves.
Alejo: Recognizing how she reacts to my pet peeves. I can now tell those smaller reactions, and that means a lot.
Monique: He’s goofy…lol…There are so many memories, across so many continents. I think my favourite memory is of the feeling of coming home from work and spending a cozy evening together. A More descriptive memory is of driving home from a roadtrip at midnight still a few hours to go blasting the radio singing our hearts out to our roadtrip playlist.
Alejo: We went to this beach in the outer banks, and we wanted to go stargazing. We drove there, and it was quiet, and we just laid down on the beach being amazed by how beautiful the sky looked. And we were the ony ones there.
Monique: That time we never actually made it to inca inca beach in Colombia. In short, we spent an afternoon on a sailboat cruise, and just absolutely froze, soaking wet in the middle of a rainstorm, instead of going to a mediocre beach on the coast near Santa Marta.