Story of us 2012

First Meeting - Hot Summer’s Day with a Cool Breeze.

A dancer, a scholar, a poet, a biker, an explorer, she was everything, all that I didn’t know I wanted in a girl, and there she was in front of me unimpressed at my expression of affection. Somehow, I was never offended, irritated or felt judged but I guess just refused to take any hint. That’s my stubborn self. Her name was Reka, a small girl with more to her than meets the eye, a native of Bulgaria who happened to be the daughter of a famous pianist. The time of year is summer 2012, we were young, carving out our futures and enjoying every minute of it. The streets of New York were our stomping ground, though we all lived in the East Side in quiet surroundings, we spent little time at home and most hours at work or hanging out.

On the day I first met Reka, I got a text from an old friend Natalie. It was one hot afternoon in the city, and this high school friend said “Hey... do you want to go to poetry night this Friday?”. Of Course, I was down to catch up and go to an open-mic with poetry! Natalie and I went way back, as far as middle school. Our parents served together abroad, so we lived in the same military base in Germany. We happened to overlap some years in high school, and we knew each other quite well. Being third-culture kids made us relate to each other on a deeper level, like childhood friends, or at least as much as a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old can be considered childhood friends. Natalie also happened to be Reka’s best friend and along with my friend Tom, who I brought along, we entered the venue excited and curious. Reka’s blonde hair that bounced up and down as she walked, like it was gliding to the beat of a movie soundtrack, together with her fearless attitude, walked right up to the mic to our surprise. She said, “Inside my chest, an army, four battalions taken out by your air force...” she continued “with a coarse kiss and a sweaty hand, you gave me your goodbye and ate my heart for bread”. The whole time she spoke I never cared to pay attention to the meaning there but just admired her creativity, and realized she was deep.

The Second Meeting - Weekend walk by the water

The four of us planned to hangout the next weekend. This time Reka took us to her favorite spot in the city. As we arrived at the Waterfront Walkway by the Hudson River, I wondered why I had never been there, since it was so close to my office. We sat there on the grass contemplating our futures, describing plans for our lives, filling our hopes and dreams with many things until before we knew it, the sun had set. We found out that some had plans to pursue phD’s, travel the world, perhaps settle down in America, the world was really our oyster. For Reka growing up in Bulgaria with strict parents caused her to dream of travelling to expand her horizons. At age 15, not only was she thrilled when her family moved to Germany, she could not wait to meet new friends for a whole new start in life. Florin and Elena Halimi, Reka’s parents, were as much an adventurous couple as Reka was. Married in their 20’s, they right away embarked on their careers as artists, Florin, a composer and Elena, a writer and poet. Both were well known in their country and nurtured creativity in their five children.

It was dark and we said our goodbyes at the waterfront. I never knew it then, but that would immediately become my favorite spot where I would return with friends quite often. Reka’s drive and ambition inspired me to remember my own days when creativity was my second language. I would compose music in my bedroom, write songs and even record on a regular basis in years past, but those hobbies died down over the years as I ploughed through a career path that I would later sentence to death, in search for greener pastures. All I wanted was that night to go on forever and continue talking but as I finally arrived back in my lonely studio-apartment, I knew immediately I had to see her again.

The Not-so-Date

The feeling was not mutual, but I looked in her eyes and said, “I like the shape of your lips” to which she swiftly rebuffed “That’s not what you say to friends!”. I was living in a fairytale land where Drake had emboldened us into saying “you only live once”, but I knew better, knowing that eternity awaits us after our one life. We talked about many random things including how my close friend was getting swindled, her recent heartbreak, her outstanding dance ability and where she would go from here once the immigration deadline approached. To our questions without answers, we were fearless and no strangers to venturing into the unknown. We both lived in multiple countries, witnessed the lifestyle of other cultures and saw a bigger picture, yet had a greater need to settle down finally, one day. We walked along the road on another summer’s day, past a park, into Manhattan’s busy streets and finally to the subway station where we parted. For some reason I regretted not being as outgoing as I wanted to be, recalling being one of the few African-American youth wherever I went, standing out as the outspoken creative, but in front of her, a mute. To re-write my destiny I needed to make a decision. This time I would not say what I normally would, or do what comes naturally since it never works. So, then I decided to let my affections die a natural death and move on.

The End

Without hesitation I called Mr. James Brown, a lawyer who specialized in immigration after seeing his “Free Consultation, Call Now!” ad. A week had passed since last talking to Reka, needless to say I could not get her off my mind. Mr. Brown promptly scheduled an appointment to which I came armed with Reka’s resume, demanding that he help her stay in the country! Option one, he said, she can get a job that will sponsor her visa, in answer to which in my immagination I said "had I the power to hire her as my CFO, I would". Option 2, Reka could buy a company worth a half a million dollars and invest it here in the country, then there was always option 3, she could marry an American citizen. I chuckled. A beauty such as her could easily find someone to marry, I thought. All she needed to do is walk into the room and it would happen. Needless to say, my efforts in making Mr. Brown help me help her were useless. I was as helpless as ever now and really had to let her go.

This failed attempt got me thinking. What if I was to re-write my destiny, what if I could win over her heart, make her my friend, then my wife? “What steps can be taken right now”, asked the YouTube motivational videos, to reach my goals and make my plans work? Well I was out of steps to take. Perhaps I had reached the end of the ropes. A close friend Brian remarked that when I started talking about her, my whole face lit-up but even he couldn’t think of anything. Until I attended an event for work. It was a breezy Tuesday, and I had one job: Represent the Company by handing out my business card and shaking people’s hands. By the end of the afternoon I had learned about a job fair, specially targeting Foreign Nationals. I got home and quickly forwarded the details to Reka, practically ordering her to attend. Two days passed and I got a strange text. It said, “I got in, thx hun”. Before my breath reached a full inhale, I had already dialed her, and the phone was ringing. It turned out that she just needed to show her transcript after graduation, and she was hired to some company called Moelis, to do something-or other, I was thrilled.

The Beginning

Reka’s parents were the most entertaining group you would ever meet. They didn’t drink or smoke but loved to dance at dinner parties they hosted. My parents on the other hand were the more serious ones, my dad being a Military General and mom a professional homemaker. It was the night they all met, and you would think they had known each other since their childhood. Reka and I in the kitchen looked at each other with absolute amazement, glad at how the meeting was turning out. We stared into each other’s eyes for a full minute and hugged under the open cabinet.

As it turns out, our parents had met before in Germany while working there. Now visiting their children in the New York was one of their favorite things to do, and we made sure it would happen every year. Reka and I got engaged in the summer of 2013 and we are now carving out our destinies together in the Big Apple where she is completing her PhD and I’m busy growing my company. We bought our first house right in the middle of a quiet suburb, just a five-minute walk from her University. Life turned out to be a poem, and as we locked lips on our wedding day, butterflies flew from our hearts to our stomach and carried us to a future we didn’t know, but wanted together.