The ‘What’s your love story?’ contest was a project of the Town of Miami Lakes and its Cultural Affairs Committee. The winning writers won restaurant gift cards: 1st Place, $100 for Cancun Grill; 2nd Place, $75 for Trattoria Pampered Chef and 3rd Place, $50 for Beverly Hills Cafe. Photos courtesy of the writers.
1st Place: Haircut leads to half-century of love Karen and Mike Wolske By Karen Wolske
We met on New Year’s Eve 1974 and I remember it like it was 48 years ago.
After what seems like a lifetime together, some details are a little blurry.
But feelings are impossible to forget. Especially the ones Mike and I shared when we first met.
We’d known each other through friends of friends, but it wasn’t until he asked if I would cut his hair that we had our first real conversation.
The feelings we had for one another were impossible to ignore and less than a year later we got married.
In 1979 we moved to Miami Lakes to begin to raise a family. I wanted hundreds of children, but thankfully stopped at four.
With each one of them, we grew closer together. As a teacher at the Growing Place for over 30 years, I suppose I got to help raise hundreds of children after all.
On our 20th anniversary, we renewed our vows at Miami Lakes Congregational Church surrounded by family, friends and members of the community.
And after the longest days, the struggles of life and the chaos of the world, Mike has been right by my side, somehow managing to make me feel the same way I did way back then.
We were kids when we met. And now our kids have kids of their own.
For almost 50 years we’ve learned how to let things go and hold things close.
For Valentine’s Day this year, I’ll be giving Mike a hug, a kiss, and a haircut.
2nd Place: School dances spark lifelong love affair Lydia and Jose Lopez By Lydia Lopez
It was 1969 when I left Cuba. I was 17 years old and had abandoned Peppe, my old friend from school and boyfriend at the time.
He said, ‘I will see you again,’ but I never believed him. We couldn’t even say goodbye to each other [while] in the same country. I [could] never imagine
seeing each other in a different country.
He was studying in Havana and I lived in the center of the island, in Santa Clara. Peppe’s mom owned a preschool where she was the teacher. I was only 3 and he was 4. It wasn’t until he failed the sixth grade (he was not smart like I was) that I got to be with him in the same school, same grade and have the same teacher.
Every Friday there was a cultural exchange act in school and we got to dance together dressed up as two Cuban farmers. From that moment on, he fell completely in love.
Twelve years went by and we split paths when I left the island. We both married, divorced and never had children. He arrived in Miami in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift and a year after, we were reunited and married. We have two kids and have been married for 41 years.
That proves the old famous Spanish saying, “La hierba que esta pa ti, no hay vaca que se la coma,” or “what’s meant to be, is meant to be.”
3rd place: Old school courtship results in long marriage Teresita and Ricardo Blanco By Susana Blanco
This is a story of love, the love I was born from.
My parents met after immigrating from Cuba, two young people somewhat lost in an unfamiliar land [who] found their way to each other and became fast
friends.
My father, a free-spirited adventurous person, had no intention of settling down. My mother, a woman of strong convictions, wasn’t interested in what is now known as
“friends with benefits.” After developing a deep connection but realizing they were not on the same page, my mother set a boundary.
My father, who was not going to be “tied down,” walked away, only to find himself knocking on her door a few months later, declaring that indeed he couldn’t live without her. They started their official courtship (with chaperones and all) and married in a humble ceremony shortly after.
Fifty-five years, five children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild later they are still together. Indeed, the longevity of their relationship is something to be admired.
However what is most impressive is their unwavering commitment to learning and growing. Somewhere along the way, they learned and committed to working through the dark moments in order to experience more and more light.
They exemplify everything a healthy union should be: Devotion; hard work; family; generosity; passion; shared grief and shared joy. Today when they are not with their family, you might find them enjoying a cruise or ballroom dancing.
But wherever they are, you will find them together, two young immigrants once lost who found home in each other.