Hope In Crisis
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| Congratulations Eva And Zach! |
Dad was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, moved to Michigan for a short while, then spent the remainder of his childhood in Orlando, Florida. He has two sisters, Alicia and Eva. Alicia is a realtor in the Orlando area! Eva is an electrical engineer! Eva and my grandpa, who we call Pop-pop, come up to visit us every year for Thanksgiving. They have been coming every year for 24 years.
In 2016 Eva came to Ohio from Florida for a summer internship and she lived with our family. Right before she came up, she met a guy named Zach. When the internship ended, Eva returned to Florida and she and Zach started dating. The following summer, my family went down to Florida to visit Dad's side of the family. This was the first time I met Zach. This meeting was really significant for me because even though Eva is very close to my immediate family, Zach is the first boyfriend of hers that we met. I can't say that from the moment I met him I knew they were going to get married, but the circumstances of how I met him definitely made him feel a lot more permanent, so I wasn't surprised last summer when we found out that they were engaged!
Most people in their life experience something that I call, “the age of weddings”. You know, that period of time when all of your friends are getting married. Eva is 27, and I'm about to turn 23. Because we are relatively close in age, and because I'm old enough to really enjoy weddings now, Eva and Zach’s wedding was going to kick off my “age of weddings”. On top of that, it's Eva and Zach's wedding!!! We are so close, that I thought it was perfect that Eva and Zach's wedding was going to be the one that kicked it all off! Of course…there was a slight hiccup with the wedding that no one could have anticipated…COVID-19.
We had been in quarantine for maybe two days when I was going to the cabinet to get a snack. Hung on the cabinet door, was a card that read, “Save the date for Eva and Zach's wedding 4/25/2020.” It was at that point that I realized that the wedding probably wasn't going to happen, at least not in the traditional sense.
For those of you who know me, you know I'm a social being, to say the least. This quarantine has literally been my worst nightmare, but that's a story for another time. I was still excited for Eva and Zach's wedding, but I thought the fact that we weren't going to be able to be there and that we would have to watch it through a glorified FaceTime call, would make it somehow less awesome. However, I would now make the argument, the fact that it was through that FaceTime call that actually made it MORE awesome!
I went upstairs to my computer because that's where I take all my zoom calls since that's where my podcast mic is. They started the zoom 15 minutes before the wedding actually started, so that everyone could get on and not miss anything. Those 15 minutes were filled with wedding music, which just built suspense.
The wedding finally started and the camera moved from inside the home to Eva and Zach's backyard. I was really excited, but I wasn't ready for what was actually about to happen. It started with Zach walking down the aisle with Eva’s mom, Julie. Zach's family was stuck in New York in quarantine, so they couldn't make it to the wedding. That fact paired with the fact that I wasn't actually expecting Zach to walk down the aisle, caused me to cry a little bit… don’t judge me!
Pop-pop walked Eva down the aisle, Eva and Zach stood together, they said their vows, and the woman who was marrying them (who was originally Eva's maid of honor), said, “You may kiss the bride!” Directly after that, Eva and Zach moved to a designated area and had their first dance. As we all watched them dance, we couldn't help but smile. Despite everything that was happening in the world, Eva and Zach changed all their plans, and still got married, all in the name of love. By doing so, they became a beacon of hope in a time of crisis for all of those watching.
Congratulations Eva and Zach! Can't wait to watch your Greattastic life together unfold!
Your Loving nephew,
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
