Our story...Part 4 of 6 (I think)

*Ok, for some reason I really thought I'd get everything out and written down in just three posts, I just finished this post and I keep thinking of more and more stuff that I want to write down before I get dementia. These girls are slowly sucking out all of my brain power, so my memory loss could come sooner than I think. Not sure how many posts I will write or when I will get them done, but I am going to keep plugging away until I get to our wedding day.

Don't worry mom, I will also posts more pics of the girls in between.

German picked me up about 30 minutes later and had to wait for me to finish getting ready (again, some things never change). I wore some jeans and a white Gap short-sleeved cotton blouse. He had on a navy blue Argentina striped soccer polo shirt that he still wears and some khaki cargo pants. I could tell he had dowsed himself in cologne and it was quite overwhelming. I have never been a huge fan of colognes/perfumes, I prefer fresh clean scents. I love good smelling shampoos and deodorants.

(this is a pic taken in '08 of German wearing the same shirt)

The drive to SDSU Institute from my apartment took about 10 minutes, we didn't talk much. I remember feeling a little worried wondering if he could dance or not because sometimes tall guys look goofy trying to dance. Of course, I should have realized that this guy was LATINO. The ability to groove and move is in their blood. We danced together the whole night and we both had so much fun. The dance ended around 11pm and we chatted quite a bit as we drove back to my apartment. We found out we had alot in common.

We both returned from our missions on the same day, November 16th, 2000.

Both of our birthdays were in March (although I was bummed to find out he was a year younger than me, but I got over it pretty quick).

Our families moved around alot when we were younger and both of our parents divorced when we were teenagers (he was 16 and I was 14).

And we both liked mountain biking.

When we arrived to my apartment I asked if he wanted to come up and see my Gary Fisher mountain bike. He oohhed and aahhed at my XT components, then we sat and looked through my mission pictures from Argentina. It was so great to be able to share our mission stories together. It was almost 1am before we decided to call it a night, I thanked him for coming to pick me up and gave him a big hug. He told me he'd look for me Sunday at church.

The next morning my roommate wanted to hear all the details and I remember her telling me how he seemed like one of those 'diamond in the rough' kind of people. I thought she was probably right and knew he was really sweet, but being a somewhat vain girl I said, "But what about his braces and that strong smelling cologne!" Then she said something I'll never forget, "Oh no, honey, those things are temporary and can be fixed. Don't let him get away just because of that."

*Bytheway, I grew to LOVE the Gucci cologne. When it was gone, I asked him to give me the empty bottle and I kept it in my car for a couple of years. I wish I still had it. The smell would drive me crazy if you know what I mean. (And I know you know what I mean!)

The next day (Saturday) he sent me this email:

Hey Sara!!!‏

From:	Galasoinc
Sent:	Sat 4/14/01 2:10 PM

Che Piva, como te va??? I found your mission homepage and wanted to drop you a line. It wasn't easy though, my computer has been acting up. Well, I loved seeing your mission pics last night, Next time I'll show you mine...all 10
albums!
Portate Bien y no cometas ninguna macana!
Chaucito
German

I thought it was so sweet. I called him from work that night, but he didn't answer, so I left him a message. I told him not to forget to bring his mission photo albums with him tomorrow to church and that I looked forward to seeing all 10 of them. Our church meetings started at 11am and I took FOREVER to get ready. I was pretty dang excited to see him. I left a nice open space next to me in the pew and all throughout sacrament meeting I kept looking back at the door to see if he was there. The whole 75 minutes went by and he was a no show. The meeting ended and I walked down the hall to Sunday school feeling a bit glum and also pretty stupid for getting my hopes up so high. Then right as I was about to reach the classroom door, I looked up and there he was smiling at me. Gosh, he's cute...

He said he went to church with his family earlier that morning and everyone was at his aunt's house for lunch. He asked me if I wanted to come meet all of them and have lunch. Then he paused and said "We can stay for Sunday School if you want?" And being the staunch church goer that I am I replied, "Um, nah that's ok. Let's go."

Hey don't judge me ;o)

Eating lunch with his family was like being back in my mission. We ate asado (Argentine BBQ), everyone was speaking Spanish and drinking mate. I loved it, I especially fell in love with his sweet grandpa. The next day (Monday) I had the day off, so we watched Remember the Titans in my apartment complex clubhouse. It was a great movie, but all I remember is that I wanted him to hold my hand and he didn't. I was bummed. You see, guys usually considered me a friend, a cool chick. I was used to it and my insecure self was afraid that our relationship was headed in that direction. He sent me the email below that same Monday night. It is in Spanish, but I don't need to translate it because all you need to know is that it contains nothing exciting, it's nice and sweet, but also a bit blah. To me it says "just friends."

RE: Hey Sara!!!‏

From:Galasoinc

Sent:Mon 4/16/01 11:01 PM

Che flaca (te molesta que te diga flaca?), como te va??? no me habias dichoque me mandaste una cartita. Que linda sorpresa. Recien llego y estoy re-agotado pero contento porque me fue mas o menos en mi clase de biologia marina. Por lo menos no me quede dormido. Te gusto la pelicula de hoy??? Me alegro que la pudimos ver. Me encanto el lugar donde la vimos...vamos a tener que hacerlo mas a menudo. Te cuento que si he escuchado la palabra papichulo pero solo en Miami (de cubanos) nunca de un argentino, pero como te dije vos sos mas argentina que yoasi que sabras mas. Bueno piva, te dejo...despues charlamos mas...chaucito! Portate bien!

El Chungo

We continued to hang out almost everyday. We both really enjoyed being together, but the next Friday night our date went just OK. I came home and told my roommates that it wasn't going anywhere, I was pretty sure we'd just be good friends. Finally, after about three weeks, we went on a date up to Carlsbad to go to church and visit families that he had met while serving as a missionary. It was Sunday, May 6th and the day was perfect in every way. I was able to see him interact with people who adored him and goof off with old companions who were still serving their missions. It was really fun to watch him and it was then that I decided "Man, I really like this guy!" That evening as we were driving home, I took a bit of initiative. He had his hand on the stickshift and instead of taking his hand, I pointed to it and asked "Can I have that?" (I know--cheeseballorama, huh?) But luckily, he said 'Sure.'

The best way to eat ice cream

It took until Thursday, May 10th for him to kiss me and from that point on we were kissing fools. I'm sure NONE of you out there know what I am talking about right? A few weeks later he told me he loved me and on Monday June 18th, he proposed, but that's a whole other story.

This picture is from the first time we attended a temple session together. My mom came with us, we weren't engaged yet, but from the moment she met him she knew he was a keeper and that I was a goner.

I bought two tickets to see Dave Matthews Band at Dodgers Stadium before I even met German. My roommate was going to go with me, but she bailed out and I took German instead. When German's family emigrated from Argentina, he was five years old and they moved to Los Angeles. We took the whole day to visit his elementary school and see where he used to live. We also walked around the L.A. temple and took some pictures.

I made German take this picture of me...can you say hint hint?

"Hey German, LOOK, I am a precious jewel, you should marry me."

Part 5 will contain the proposal and some engagement stories (we were engaged about 8 months). And hopefully Part 6 will be the wedding story. It's kind of funny. Sorry if this is getting boring, but I'm actually really glad I am finally writing it all down.