I’m married today because I got robbed in Spain.
In retrospect it could have been a lot worse. The man across from me was bleeding. A woman was sobbing. Several children were crying. I was the lucky one waiting to file a report at Madrid’s airport police station. I only had a backpack taken. No harm. No blood.
It was a classic move. As the train from the airport was coming into a station on the way into the city, a man dropped a cell phone. I leaned over to pick it up and hand it back. His accomplice grabbed my backpack from the seat next to me and disappeared out the train doors right before they closed. By the time I noticed my backpack was gone, we were speeding away from the station. There was nothing I could do.
Next time, it will be my cell phone that he’s dropping to the train floor, prompting another unlucky passenger to return it.
Three years earlier the most amazing girl I had ever dated had told me not to contact her again. We had first dated when she was in college and I was in grad school. Then we went separate ways, but always reconnected at least once a year. Finally the letter came ending things for good. She wanted to grow her business. She knew I wanted to continue to see the world. She didn’t want to hold me back, nor did she want to wait for my wanderlust to wane. Much easier to end things.
I moved on. I spent two summers in Oslo learning Norwegian. I went to friends’ birthday parties in Lithuania. I spent months in the south of France, eating my weight in Pain au Chocolats. And when a couple of friends invited me to travel around Spain with them, I accepted. My only request was that we not start in Madrid. I had traveled to the city before and didn’t love it, and I didn’t care about going back. But I told my friends to book me the best ticket for their planned itinerary. They booked me into Madrid.
The cell phone dropped. I handed it back. And my life changed. It was the first negative thing to happen to me in 50+ countries. I bought new toiletries, but traveled around Spain for two weeks without a phone or camera. I even had to search out an Air France office – of course the very last time I would ever fly with a paper ticket was the first time I had a ticket stolen.
When I returned home I no longer felt like seeing as much of the world as I could. Travel wasn’t fun anymore. Maybe Colorado can be interesting. Maybe I should concentrate on my job and work from a physical office for a while. And maybe I should see what Missy is up to after three years. I was sure she was married with kids. But something told me to reconnect – despite her missive asking for no future contact. I was different now, no longer a traveler.
I wrote and said hi. It was an old-fashioned letter, handwritten, stamped and mailed. She shouldn’t have gotten it. She had moved eight months earlier and her mail forwarding had expired. Somehow it made it to her new mailbox. We’re still not sure how.
She wrote back a few days later. She said that she was now ready to get married. To me.
I flew out to California the following weekend and we planned the wedding.
Post-script: Our kids are 14, 16 and 18. My travel pause only lasted a year.
I love this!!! Congratulations and here is to many more!!
Happy anniversary! What a beautiful story!
These summers in oslo were good thing))) But the good marriage is amazing))) Be happy!
No regrets at all! I loved Oslo, and everything worked out perfectly in the end!
Wow! I love this completely personal departure and love story! More, more, more!
Ha, thanks Kate! I find it so much easier to write about travel!
Congratulations on this beautiful fated love!
Congrats to you both! Here’s to many more years of love and adventure.
Thanks Brianna!
This is such a sweet story! Happy anniversary to you two crazy kids!
Thanks Kristin!!
Oh my gosh ! What a lovely story (not the getting robbed part). Happy anniversary ! 🙂
Beautiful!
Thanks Georgina!!
Fantastic story, Eric. Happy anniversary to you and your adorable wife.
Thank you Carole!
What a sweet romantic story! Thank you so for sharing this with us.
Congrats and best wishes for the future too 🙂
Thanks Shubham!
What a sweet story, Best wishes and a very Happy Anniversary!
Thank you Priya!
I always tell my kids that the travel mishaps always end up making the best stories, but this one takes the cake! I guess she was okay with it when your wanderlust came back since you’re still happily married!
Ha! She’s moderately annoyed by my travel schedule, but not enough to put all my stuff out on the front lawn and change the locks (yet).
What a story! I look forward to meeting your wife at some point.
Thanks Meagan! Absolutely!
So happy to hear how a bad moment prompted such an incredible change in fate. I’m a sucker for a happy ending!
what a story you should become a writer 🤪
Fated to be together! #meanttobe