My Fairytale

When I was a child, I grew up watching mystical love stories where a Prince saves the Princess and they fall in love. Everything felt magical and dramatic, like love simply appeared fully formed and stayed that way forever.

But the first fairytale I ever believed in wasn’t on a screen. It was the one I watched at home.

My parents met when they were young, still in high school. My mom was just fourteen. My dad was a few years older. He saw her walking into school one morning and told his friends, “That’s going to be my wife.”

At the time, she didn’t like him much. He was known for skipping school and getting into trouble. But something shifted. He started showing up. He went to class. He stopped misbehaving because he wanted to be with her.

He was popular. Everyone knew him. Girls would gather after school to watch him play soccer with his friends. And still, he chose her. Every day.

Their love was rooted in devotion, growth, intention, and stability. It was consistent. It was patient. It was something you could stand on. That was the example of love I grew up admiring, and the fairytale I hoped to find one day.

At our wedding, I dedicated their song to them, Fall In Love by Sanchez. Their love was far from perfect, but it was real. It showed me that love is something you build through commitment, patience, and family. I needed to honor them and let them know exactly where my understanding of love began.

What I’ve learned since then is that love doesn’t always arrive with everything figured out. In my own story, what mattered most was growth and intentionality. Choosing each other. Learning. Becoming better. Deciding, again and again, to keep building.

The wedding wasn’t the end of a story. It was a new beginning. It was a moment to look back with gratitude and forward with understanding.

I don’t believe love is about being saved anymore. I believe it’s about being chosen, being willing to grow, and being thankful for the examples that taught you what love could be.

And for that, I’m deeply grateful.