I first laid eyes on Isabel when she was an orientation leader for my class. She sang a song on stage during the skit. Afterwards we bumped into each other and introduced ourselves.Fast forward to freshman year living in Whelan. Isabel was friends with some of the RA’s and would always say hi. She convinced me and friends to apply to service orgs, including Ignatians which she was a member of. That spring I applied and got into Ignatians!
Fate continued to pull us together. We became better friends over the next year. Just before she graduated in 2009, we started dating. We had a summer full of young love and adventure! She was about to leave for post grad service in the fall and I was about to leave for a semester abroad in Germany. Up until the last days of summer we had said we would likely not stay together after summer. But the last day before leaving I asked if she wanted to ‘try this thing long distance.’ She did! And she was glad I asked!
Fast forward 10 years. We are now married, have three kids - 2.5 year old twin boys, and an almost one year old girl.
The weird truth (and a story I told at our wedding) is that on that very first night I met Isabel at my orientation... she was on stage and it truly seemed like she was staring at me. I even nudged my friend Vince Patin who was sitting next to me and asked him ‘is she staring at me?!’ And he said something to the effect of ‘ya that’s strange.’ When I told isabel about this moment, she has a vague recollection of some freshman at orientation coming up to her after the skit asking why she was staring at him. Her response was ‘you were staring at me!!!’ To which I replied ‘of course I was, you were the one on stage.’ I had no clue what the future would unfold in that moment, but that was a magical moment at LMU, laying eyes on my future wife and love of my life for the very first time.