Our Beginning - Me.Our Courtship.

NOTICE: I will begin writing about the beginning of our married life together {August 1996} until I get caught up to when I began blogging in June 2009. I feel this is important for me to do for my childrens sake. Yes they have these pictures and hundreds more in albums to see but writting about each one will be extra special for all of us. I'm excited to be doing this. It's gonna be fun. I hope all my readers will find these postings entertaining and funny at times.

6.6.12

Well I'm done scanning the photos for this post and finally ready to write about them ... to try to dig into my lifes archives to tell you a bit about my life in my late teens and of when Jacob and I began courting. These pictures are in numerical order.
As I was looking through storage photo boxes I noticed I really don't have many pictures of my teen years or early twenties OR when Jacob and I began dating. That made me sad. I bet that if I was into blogging back in 1993 I would have thousands of pictures capturing every single special moment of my life. It's disappointing but it's useless to have to dwell about it.
Of course I have quite a few embarrassing photos which I may not share but here are a few that are bearable for me to do so.

{To my blogging mommas I would like to remind you just in case you forgot that I've lived in San Diego, CA the majority of my life. Ok, now that being said we're good to go.}

This was during the summer of 1993 at Coronado beach. I was 18 years old. Now that I was out of high school I didn't want to look back. I was ready to begin creating new memories ... go to college but I would soon find out that wasn't His plan for me. I were to get hired at one of the retail stores at the Hotel Del Coronado where I would meet my future husband ... but that story will be better told in just a minute...
I had gone to the beach with my friend Brenda and my mom. I always enjoyed my moms company even as a teenager.
I've never actually felt comfortable in a bathing suit ... although I did wear them I prefered shorts and a tank top. And those sunglasses I'm wearing are just awful, lol.

My eyebrows have always been thick but they looked thicker and darker when I was this young. I also used to dye my hair ... well my mom or sister would dye it for me. I've dyed it ash blonde and even reddish orange. Awful I know. I was looking for that picture but I couldn't find it. This picture was in bad shape ... all bent and a bit scratched. That's why it looks the way it does. Anyway, I was at my future sister-in-laws bridal shower. I believe it was in late summer of 1993. Aw, I was so skinny then.

Here I am along with my sister Claudia at my brothers wedding on November 1993, as bridesmaids. Just before the ceremony. I was 19 years old. 

This is Jacob and my story ... our beginning.

I always wanted to be a wife and mother ... and wanted to have children at a young age. What surprised me was that God had a plan ... for Jacob and my path to cross. I never knew real love before Jacob. We both worked at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1994. He was security then and I got a job at one of the shops. I remember seeing him walking around making his rounds and would notice him looking my way but didn't really paid too much attention to him. He began saying hi to me and calling me by my full first name {Graciela} when I had to turn in the shops keys at the security office. I would hand in the keys and I would get my batch back in return so that's how he knew my name. This went on for several weeks and I became annoyed by the way he pronounced my name. I would avoid him as much as possible, lol.
But then while I was on my lunch break in the cafeteria one day he came in and saw me there and sat next to me and that's how we began talking.
I remember it was summer of 1995 when we began talking up until our first date in November 1995. He had his own place and was having a gettogether and had invited me ... and I went. That was the beginning of our lives together because while I was at his place surrounded by his friends and listening to music I knew that he would be the one for me. It's the feeling I got ... the way we connected with only hours of talking. It was surreal and it was meant to be. We spoke on the phone every single day and we would see each other almost daily as well. We were always together.

Here he is a few months after we began dating, relaxed watching a movie. Jacob had very wavy hair and it was longer than how he has it now.

He bought me flowers just because. Isn't that sweet?! Even then without me telling him he got me my favorite flower ... tulips {among other ones}.

This was our first offical social event we attended as a couple. It was to one of Jacob's friends brothers wedding in February 1996. I was 20 years old.

Celebrating his birthday in April 1996. I had my hair cut and dyed it back to my natural hair color which is a dark brown almost black. I have no idea why wer were cracking up ... nerves I guess. Young and in love.

Our first 4th of July together. Even while we dated I wanted to make it tradition to spend Independence day in Coronado.

And guess what? These are all the pictures I have of us during our courtship ... at least the ones I'm willing to share. Not many but enough to share with you a bit of the several months that we spent knowing each other better and realizing day after day that we wanted to be married.