How I got married…
Let’s see… I’m married to Virginia, my wife of 12 and 1/2 years, our anniversary is July 23. Virginia is the sister of one of my friends from Phoenix, AZ. (Actually the town of Guadalupe , one of the Valley’s many.) I met Martin, her brother, when we both worked at what was then Sears Teleparts Center here in Tucson (No, I don’t know what it’s called anymore. Sad, considering I helped wire it up and set up the server rooms) He was in the Air Force and when his enlistment ended, he joined the Arizona Air National Guard. (This is key to the story, hang in there). Martin would come down once or twice a month for his drill duty. One time, he brought down his wife and kids, and his sister. I was hung-over (tequila party the night before), so I didn’t remember much, just that she had shiny red hair. When they left to return to Phoenix, I said goodbye and told myself that I had to call her.
Time passed and we started to call and write regularly. (Sad how the writing seems to disappear once the courtship is a thing of the past.) I remember writing multi-page letters and spending countless nights on the phone. It was a heck of a phone bill. I started driving up to Phoenix every weekend to visit and spend time with Vicki (her nickname). I wore out the rear axle on my ’61 Volvo 122S driving up and down every weekend. Because her father was (is) a very traditional Mexican parent, we had to ‘sneak’ around, i.e, we couldn’t be seen together. That’s not to say that the rest of her family didn’t know. They all did. I’d go with her to family functions, etc. She’d come down here to Tucson for my family’s functions.
So, we got engaged…
Yep, I did it. Sort of. Remember I mentioned above that her father is very traditional? I had to take my mom with me up to Guadalupe to ask Vicki’s father for Vicki’s hand. Actually, my mom had to ask on my behalf. This happened right before New Years, 1994 because I wanted to take Vicki to the Fiesta Bowl that year. Arizona beat Miami 29 – 0. Ahh. Good times. Since then ‘Arizona’ and ‘bowl game’ are mutually exclusive terms and are not to be used in the same sentence or breath.
After much planning and deliberation, we got’s hitched. July 23, 1994. It was hot. It was humid. There was no air conditioning – only swamp coolers and ceiling fans. Imagine if you will a church full of sweating people, dressed in the Sunday finest, or as in our case, in tuxedos and fancy dresses. Good. Glad you’re able to because I don’t remember much but the ‘I do’ and exiting the church and going to the reception in Scottsdale. My Best Man, Rick Nawrocki, drove us there in my Volvo . (More on Rick later). Long story short, we went to a reception hall for a full-on wedding reception. It was fun. We did the Mexican Wedding March (even my sisters!) and even had a live band. I still think 1/2 of Guadalupe showed up. The neatest part was going to our hotel suite at the Marriott in Mesa. We were starving because we hadn’t eaten at the reception so we pulled up into a Burger King by the hotel and put our order in at the drive-through. When they heard we had just gotten married they gave us our order for free. Now I ask you, what marriage doesn’t start on a good note with free food?
We have three girls, Sofia, Isabel, and Marisol. When we first got married my wife wanted children and I didn’t, and I missed out on a lot. Some years after we were married my paternal instinct kicked in. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have children. Mind you, we tried. And tried. And tried. You get the picture.