However, this is not where the story ends. Berto again got transferred, this time to Freeport, Bahamas where he has been since May. This is the longest distance we have had to battle yet, but with video gchat it's almost like he never leaves my side. We are so lucky for this opportunity for him. It has taught us to never take each other for granted and continues to strengthen us and make us grow, individually and together. We are grateful for the time we do get to spend together, and as Berto said in a toast on our last visit, “Here’s to us not missing a step.”
From high school sweethearts to husband and wife - I’m not sure how we actually got from one to the next, but we have never missed a step and have continued to love each other through every little step.
We are now anxiously awaiting Berto’s return to the states. And in the meantime of course, planning our big wedding day!
It all began so long ago, I can barely remember a time when I didn’t know Berto. So long ago in fact, that even I can’t remember exactly how it started. Somewhere in the hallowed halls of the Maine South A-Wing, before 8th period of my sophomore and Berto’s freshman year, a mutual friend introduced us to each other. He wasn’t playing matchmaker and neither of us was particularly single at the time, but we became fast friends passing notes each day about nothing in particular and somewhere along the way something sparked between the two of us. It took a whole nother year for anything beyond a friendship to form, but I had a hard crush from the very beginning.
Our Story Told By CAMILLE
A year later, as Girl’s Choice was approaching and I was weighing my decisions about who to ask, one person kept coming up. Alberto. I made up my mind that I would ask him at the Winter Dance and once I arrived that night, any of my friends will tell you I was on a hunt to find him from the minute I walked through the door. (Partly because I was afraid that someone else would beat me to the punch)! As luck and fate would have it, I found him, planted one right on his lips and asked him to be my date to Girls’ Choice. He laughed and said yes and from that day on we were pretty inseparable. It only took a few short months for him to officially ask me to “go out with him”.
We spent the rest of high school in the typical cheerleader/football player way. I cheered him on, he drove me home to watch a movie, etc, etc. We went to 8 dances together with my dried corsages to prove it! And, me being the older woman, was first to graduate and move on to college.
There begins the years of long distance. I was off to Madison and Berto was to finish high school. I like to say that instead of growing apart, we grew up. As with any long distance relationship, the saying holds true for us as well, distance truly does make the heart grow fonder, but we learned that it certainly is not always a walk in the park. A year later, Berto was also off to college at Purdue. We were now farther apart in distance, but growing closer as the
years passed. We made countless visits to Wisconsin and Indiana to see each other and even more back home, which was conveniently smack dab in the middle of us both.
I again made it to graduation first, where I promptly moved back to Park Ridge ready to start my career and to be 2 hours closer to Berto. The year flew by and as Berto’s graduation approached, we got excited to finally be in the same place again after 5 years apart, only to find out that Berto’s first assignment for his new job was in Tyler, Texas. Shocking as it was, we adjusted as we always do and again planned our visits and looked forward to another homecoming. Finally in January of 2009, Berto was assigned to work in Plainfield, Illinois and we were able to relax and be happy together. We even made a deal to switch holidays for the winter. Berto would come to Wisconsin with my family for Thanksgiving and I would go with his to Christmas Eve. As this has always been a hard decision for us, I was elated at the compromise. Little did I know that it was only one little part of Berto’s master plan!
On Christmas Eve of 2009, Santa and Berto surprised me in front of his whole family. Berto got on one knee and asked me to be his wife. When I say surprised I mean shocked, speechless and dizzy. I was at a loss for words, but through my tears I was able to nod out an emphatic yes, as there was never any question in my mind that Berto would someday be my husband. He is my best friend and the person who makes me who I am.
