How We Met
My pastor was moving to a new church, and I decided to go along. On Fourth of July, the church had a family BBQ. I met Gerson there for the first time- a quick handshake and goodbye. (World Cup 2014 game, a must, was starting, and I had to leave.) Since our church is so big, I didn’t really see him after that. One Sunday afternoon, I was teaching Sunday school, and another teacher had advised me to check out the young adults’ group. I was a bit hesitant but decided to give it a try. That Friday, I went with my cousin, and once again, I saw Gers. He was giving a lesson that night on “Toxic Dating.” I was happy to see a face I recognized. I remember being invited to go eat with the group, but at this time, I was in a long-term relationship for about nine years. My priorities were somewhere else.
I didn’t attend the group for a while. A few weeks later, our church was holding an event to raise money for missions. I sat down with a few familiar faces, and Gerson came by to sit in front of me. He made me feel at home; he made me feel very welcomed. He is very involved in church, and being the nice person he is, his main focus is to be nice to everyone and make them stay. Anyways, he grabbed my phone and put down his phone number as “My Favorite Amp Leader.” We talked with a group of other people there, and he explained to me how he just graduated college and was looking for a job. I knew my job was hiring (and hey, I get a bonus out of it so why not just tell him, right?) Later that week, he sent me his resume. A month later, he was working alongside me.
Here’s where we became inseparable. He became sort of a mentor to me, someone I looked up to and admired a lot. Funny thing is, he is three years younger than me, but honestly he is the most mature person. Any advice, prayer, favor, whatever it was, I knew I could count on Gerson. At work, we laughed so much together. Soon after that, we started hanging out outside of work with mutual friends. I never got tired of seeing him. We worked together, hung out with friends on Friday nights, and even saw each other at church on the weekends. Yet, neither of us got tired of each other. We became the best of friends. I would always advise him to get a nice girlfriend. Someone I can be friends with. I knew whoever his girlfriend would be would be so blessed.
About five months after I met Gers, I had a situation with my boyfriend at the time. The first person I had to call to rescue me was Gerson. The only person who would understand. Sure enough, he dropped everything to come save me. It was Valentine’s Day, and I spent the rest of the night with Gers at Red Robin as he chaperoned his younger friend on a date. Talk about “Toxic Dating,” that was one of the worst days of my life, but Gerson changed my tears into laughter in the end.
A few months went by and Gerson and I started to do everything together. As time went by, I couldn’t get this feeling away from me. At this time, I knew the feeling he had for me, but I really wanted to get to know him. Everything he did and said made my heart melt. I remember playing dumb, as if I didn’t know he had feelings for me, and said “I’m going to be single forever. Once I’m passed 30, just marry me, bestie.” He answered, “Can time pass already, and you be 30.” Gerson being my best friend was the best thing ever. The things he did for me as a friend was just unexplainable, so surreal.
Summer 2015, July 24th. Gers asked me to go to Malibu with him and pick up an order for his mom. When we got to Malibu, he said that we were early. Since we were early, we had time to go the El Matador Beach. Once we got to the beach, he put a blindfold on me. I held on to him very tight. All I could hear were people saying how adorable, so cute. Some dudes saying, “Wow! Good job! That’s some romantic stuff” I had no clue what was about to happen. He sat me down for a while. Then, he took off the blindfold and handed me a pail of water. As I walked, I saw a glass bottle with a letter rolled up inside it. I opened it, and there was the sweetest letter expressing his feeling. After the letter, he walked me to the other side of the cave. There, I saw lit candles spelling out yes/no. He asked me to use the pail and choose my answer. So cheesy, but adorable. We got back to the car, and we prayed together for our new journey. Then, we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant. When I got home, my mom asked me how it went…I was confused by what she meant. Then, she said only a gentlemen asks a girl’s parents for permission to date their daughter. An aww moment. From then on, #GersicasAdventures was my favorite love story….
how they asked
Summer 2017, Thursday, June 29th. We had only been dating for 1 year and 11 months. I didn’t expect this at all. We drove down to Pirates’ Tower in Laguna Beach, California. He asked me if I wanted to go have a picnic at the beach. We ate, explored, and took pictures.
Once we started to pack everything up, a young gentlemen came over to ask if we could help him with a project. Me, being the shy person, told Gerson to do it. We walked a little to the spot where the students wanted us to stand. One of the guys had all his camera equipment, holding these huge red and white balloon. They said they needed a couple for a school project. I looked around, and it was surprisingly empty. I felt bad saying no. I couldn’t say no. They handed me the balloons, and I looked backed and whispered to Gerson what a great shot it’s going to be with the tower behind us. I even told Gers to tell them to send us a few pictures after. They said they would be glad to send us the picture. I even got my phone out to take a Snap of how romantic it was. We waited for the right moment to take the picture. Then, rose petals fell on us, and he got down on one knee.
I was a bit thrown off. I was nervously laughing and shaking. I heard him say this beautiful speech, then he opened a glass case containing a rose with the ring I had always imagined! There, I finally realized it wasn’t part of a project. I started to cry, and his close friends came out of nowhere to congratulate us. I turned to the “students,” and I still asked if it was a project. Apparently, they were Gerson’s friends from college. They filmed the whole thing! Afterwards, we sat alone together, and he asked me about the ring (since I hate jewelry…) Honestly, it was everything I imagined, a heart-shaped ring with diamonds around it, just the perfect size for my skinny little fingers. Nothing dramatic like a Ring Pop was what I always joked around about. I couldn’t believe he remembered the details from a long time ago! He was relieved!
We got back to the car, and he handed me a journal. The journal was filled with adorable memories he had been writing in for the past months! At the very end was a letter written the night before he proposed. Once again, I cried. We went out to eat with our friends, and once again, they prayed for this new, beautiful journey.
