I never dreamed while growing up, that my married life would literally be a daily adventure. You see, I grew up in sunny Florida. I was the fat kid, no real friends and definitely no girlfriends. Childhood was not the best for me, and then once I hit adulthood and started getting involved into relationships, one right after another that led no where except into an occasional spit of depression. At one point, I had even decided to completely give up on finding that right person for me.

I am always up for an adventure, after leaving my parent’s home, I was always moving around. Not for work or anything like that, but for the adventure. To me, there was nothing like waking up and having to explore a whole new city. This went on until I was 25. Now it seems young, but that’s not the best part.

You see, I enjoy the internet, and even more so playing online games. Well it just so happened that one day, I was talking to a friend of mine in a Korean chat room as he was Korean. At that very same time, my future wife was chatting with her sister who had married a Korean. Her very first words to me were, “What are you doing in here?” Now this did bring up the point that I was chatting in English in a Korean chat room, but it was the manner in which she said it that really got to me. That is all it took for me as I saw it almost as fate.

From that day forward, we spent almost 12 hours together chatting via instant messenger everyday for 6 months. Now it did not take me 6 months to decide, rather just that much time to save money to go on vacation to meet my future wife.

So began the adventure. 30,000 miles across the ocean, it seemed like an eternity even though it was only a 16 hour flight, but the moment I looked into her beautiful brown eyes, I knew it was all worth it. I spent over $3,000 in the 2 month stay in the pearl of the orient, the Philippines. But by the end of that time I had all but gone broke. We had already set a date for the wedding which would take place 9 months later, so I took my bags and flew back home. The only problem was that I missed my connecting flight in Los Angeles and was stuck on the Greyhound Bus for 7 days sue to all the Katrina evacuees going back to Louisiana.

Now this was probably the hardest 9 months of my life, since I knew all to well that I had to make enough money to live off of as well as pay for the wedding and have enough living money for at least 1 year upon arriving back in the Philippines.

The First 3 months did not go so well, it was supposed to be tourist season but due to the recent hurricanes, there were no tourists, and at the same time, that also meant that there were far less jobs available on the barrier islands of Florida’s west coast. I kept hearing all the stories about the jobs that were available in New Orleans no thanks to the hurricanes but I never believed them. By the time the 3rd month rolled around, I had no choice, so being the adventurous one; I packed a single backpack and went to the French Quarter. It took me a whole 1 hour to find a high paying job that also included room and board. Before I knew it, not only had I reached my savings goal, I had exceeded it.

From one adventure to another, I arrived for the second time in the Philippines, where my fiancé was awaiting me eagerly at the airport as she had missed me as much as I her. The next 3 months flew fast so quickly as we spent everyday together in preparation for our moment.

When it was all said and done, one could not ask for anything more than a story book wedding. We said our vows, with her extended family of over 300 people in attendance in a 500 year old Spanish church that was located on the quiet little island of Bantayan. Not once did I ever have cold feet about the wedding, she was the one for me, she completed me and for the entire 1 hour ceremony, I could not take my eyes off of her, I had even managed to stumble over my own words during the vows because my attention was on her, and not on the priest.

It has now been over two years of bliss, I could not have asked for more. We have a beautiful daughter, and I am still enjoying the fact that I am one of the youngest foreigners living in the Philippines. In the simplest terms, my life now, is perfect. Everyday is an adventure and I am content with being in one place. No person could ever ask for more.

Juvelyn and Nicholas
Married June 7th, 2007
Cebu City, Philippines

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