Story spoiler: handsome Haitian guy does Jonah and the whale charade with a white girl and a tiny flame is lit. After smoldering in the background for several years it has made appearance and is completely lighting up the white girl's world.
So guys, this truly did start in 2015 with Jonah and the whale. Michelle, my friend the CSI teacher, had her friend Shelda's family over for lunch. I helped make piles of tortillas for their family of 8 and after lunch Elly, Kate, and Donovan went to sleep and Michelle, Carson, and I hung out with the Haitian youth. We played charades and I was on Eliezer's team and we acted out Jonah and the whale. I had an awesome afternoon. I was leaving in a month, and I had seen these kids before but never hung out with them. I was so sad I hadn't got to know their family sooner!! I sat on the roof that night and finally understood why Sallie and Heather fell in love with Haitian guys. Before that I hadn't hung out with anyone that just treated me like a normal girl like and talked to me like an American guy would. Eliezer went home and his mom said to him, "You should marry that girl!"
He got my number and I helped him with English words some, and he did things like keep me up on Haitian news or send me Group D'homme songs when they practiced. Slowly tho I lost track of him and hadn't thought of him in months.
December 2018 rolled around and his name came up on my phone... "Merry Christmas!" Which I didn't think anything of until he said he had been thinking of me, and then he started asking me if I knew why. And then he started naming off all the Haitian and white couples that he had seen at the Christmas party and my mind was saying WHOA. WHAT is going on. Elevated heart rate. And my mom said, "Quiara you have to find out." So I innocently asked why and he said it was because he had always wished something could work out for us.
And now I would like to have a moment of silence for the people who listened to me talk about this in the next months. Because it looked like such a very big step and I knew I wanted to be so sure that it was right and from God. I took long walks every evening or basically you could say I paced the neighborhood trying to figure all this out... Just if I could be what he needed in a wife, and embrace his culture and family, all that. And amid all that the crazy stuff in my head subsided and I knew what I wanted. And that this is what it was. During that time I heard a sermon too about how we collect extra "stuff" so much, and that some people could not be happy unless their lives were simple. And it dawned on me that yes, I was that person and God was planning the perfect life to make me happy.
On spring break I went to Haiti "to see friends." It was the week of their conference and happened to be where he spent a lot of his growing up years. It was so much fun to spend an afternoon with his mom... She was helping with food for the conference and took me with her to buy food and look up old friends. Zèzè and I thought we for sure didn't hardly get to be together and no one would ever catch on, but guess love can't hide, because it was top gossip there after that! My friends Gario and Maggie and his sister and brother in law Ben and Shelda conspired to get us together for a few more days... They live at the same congregation, so we spent part of one day at the market and walking around trying to dodge the white nurse from the clinic and stuff like that lol. I also spent a day at Ben's. Ben is from Kansas and wanted chicken fettuchinne alfredo for supper... We all four ended up in the kitchen together cooking supper and ended up with the guys eating PILES of macaroni with our measly bit of chicken and sauce and saying it was the best ever! And another thing we did that day is play basketball together lol... Zèzè and I against Ben and Shelda!! Lol what an awkwardly fun day that was. And needless to say I cried all the way home... Sniffled my way thru the hour long customs line in Florida and have been trying not to be obsessed with getting back there ever since. Hasn't really worked that well.
Looking back I am thankful for this past year. I've gotten to know him and his family better, and he has worked his charm on my parents also lol!
A bit about him... He's 32, extremely good looking and that's not just my opinion, also extremely outgoing... Used to being in charge and planning things... Knows what he wants which is such a relief to me because we all know I need someone I can't try and boss around lol. His most important person (until now lol) has been his mom and he treats her like a queen. And he has worked so hard to make this all happen... I can never truly doubt that he loves me and wants to give me the best he has. He is the oldest, has 4 sisters in the middle two of which are married, and two little brothers. The youngest is 16. His family and lots of extended family have grown up in the church.
And so... On May 3, a congregation in Port au Prince is gonna get a little more "milk" added to the coffee." Who doesn't love cafe au lait?