This was how I met Marina. After a couple months of online flirting, I finally had a chance to see Marina. She texted me one day and said she wanted to get together with me; we made plans to meet up at a Dennys-style restaurant called “Vips” in downtown Puebla, just a block from its Zócalo.
Our original plan was to have dinner at Vips, but Marina told me she wanted to do something different. I suggested a movie; she told me would like to do something where we could get to know each other. We ended up going to an Italian Coffee (This is Mexico’s version of Starbuck’s, and while the chain is in Mexico, its name is the English phrase The Italian Coffee Company) besides Puebla’s Zócalo and talking there. I bought us beverages for 50 pesos — about five dollars at the time.
After paying for our beverages at that Italian Coffee, we were walking and went past an alley. I knew it was time. Taking advantage of the fact that Mexican culture allows kissing in public, I grabbed Marina, pushed her against the wall, and started French kissing her. She melted in my arms as I kissed her passionately.
We had our ups and downs, but the passion and love we had for each other sparked on the night of our first date never went away. Something magical happened between us that night, something that lasted until her untimely death from breast cancer less than six years later.
Yes, I have shed a lot of tears losing Marina, but even in my sadness I cherish the life I had with her. It made me a better person, more able to love. Even if I had known how short our time together would be, I would not have done anything different that first night we met.
Thank you Marina, for all of the beautiful memories, and thank you, Marina, for our beautiful child. There will always be a place in my heart for you.