Hard-To-Open Bottles Openers, Toilet Seat Lifters, Grill Masters and Late-at-Night Text Messages Senders: Men

Sometimes is good to honor those men who make a difference in your life. As a woman, I found that men in all ages and races have been there for me when needed- and sometimes when their non presence was needed as well. I can't imagine my life without the men that made me the way I am right now. Emotionally speaking, I have a great group of men I do want to honor. But not all male human being are worth to be called men- and those, honestly, don't matter. However, I will talk about those few who earned respect based on merit- and I am picking few right now.
I wouldn't be the person who I am to date if it wasn't for my dad. He's one of my favorite men of all the time. I have countless experiences and stories about my dad. I know I'm not the princess type of daughter to my dad's eyes and I always felt like the boy-ish type of girl who had to demonstrate academic success in order to be appreciated- my dad is a great man, regardless.
From walking, to eating, to hard punishments, to running, to our first dog, to our second, third, fourth....tenth dog, to trips to the mountains, to days at the beach, to trips to the port to pick fresh fish, to biking lessons, to bad scores in school and scary lectures of what I should do, to my rebellious "don't bother me" attitude as teenager,  to celebrations for getting into college, to getting my drivers license,to yelling at me when I wrecked the car, to working together, to teaching me how to rotate the tires of my car alone when my friends were partying, to talks in the deepest sad moments of my life, to blames for moving to another country, to helping me in getting my first car, to sneak out cassettes and CDs of great bands from his collection, to giving me the dirty look when I met a guy, to holding a conversation to tell him I was getting married, to talks late at night with a Corona beer...to discovering a friend. That's what my dad means to me in the 25 years I lived so far. I know I won't understand his ways most of the time (and yes, right now I'm crying as I write) but the older I get, the more I understand his ways and his unconditional love to me, to my sisters, to my mom. My papa taught me the concept of family not by lecturing me, but being there to help me and celebrate my achievements with me. I needed him to open a bottle that I've been struggling to open, and he'd open it as if he was rubbing his fingers on silk.
I love dad's grilling Sundays. My dad whom I seen since always grilling with abuelo and the uncles, now does it alone- No doubt that being away from home has a sour taste. He's my grill master, my mechanic specialist, the one who yells at me, the one who has no fears to hurt you as long as he tells you the crude truth to your face. The one who drives several miles (and sick) just to say Happy Birthday. He's the one who suffered the most seeing me move away. He's the emperor of his empire, the Benitez empire.

Photo 01. Dad, my older sister and me at the port

Photo 02. My dad, my friend

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 This man is the person I'm compatible with in almost everything. I'm sure if I was a boy I would be him and if he was a girl he'd be me- regardless of races, of course.
David, my eternal boyfriend (soon to be my husband) is one of the persons I love the most in this world. We met in 2009 and since then carrots and peas don't seem to be the closest friends anymore.  Unusual way to meet each other, different ABCs learned through over 20 years...but it only took a cross of sights that spoke an universal language to be together:  the language of love.
David inspired me to write this second half of the post because of who he is and what he means to me as a man, yes, a man who has mistakes, who makes funny sounds, who enjoys food by saying "uhhhhmmm" after the first bite if he loves it and paused "mmm- mmm-mmm" sounds through the meal, a man who learned to love me the way I always wished to be loved, and beyond.
From drives of 25 miles each way, to 250 miles and then 215 miles, my great love exposed himself to the mysteries of the night, to the lack of vision of deer crossing the road, to the rises of price in gas, to the physics and its laws of friction on rainy nights, to winter storms, to growlers of beer,  to spend time with me.
Most of people would say that distance is synonymous of slow separation. It could be, right? But for me us, it worked better than expected. Two hundred+ miles of driving solo is a great time to exercise the mind and think of things I love about him, things I hate about him (a couple only- but its getting better), things I admire about him, things I can't understand, things that makes me giggle, things that make my heart beat fast, things that make me sing loud and in high pitch.
Not only happiness and fun times defines this man. His sense of understanding what a complicated person I know I am makes me appreciate him more. David has been there for me when I thought I didn't need anyone and when I thought the world would care less if I'm sinking in a lagoon made out of depression- the hardest times I experienced living alone.
David knows how much I love my family and he kept silent, insanely hurt and desperate to communicate my fears, my sadness, and bad feelings to them. I didn't want them to know (my family),and loyal to me and trusting on the healing power of his love, he rescued me . He dedicated entire days to me to take care of me when I was sick, when I was burning with fever, when I couldn't eat. He came with warm hands to give me hug when that was the only thing I needed for days. He fixed my toilet- even though sometimes he doesn't like to return down the toilet seat. He wants to have a family with me. He calls me to give me the magic words every night, all nights: Good night, sweetheart...he says, and I'm automatically falling asleep.
David is a man who showed me that sacrifice and amending mistakes are keys to demonstrate love to a person. To learn from each other is the biggest way to accept ourselves and to improve. With David I learned to transform  words and combine "two people" in one word- us.
David is my brew master, my jalapeno pepper usage teacher, my beer snob, my legal advisor, my tickles giver, my favorite person in the world to share music, my hiking partner, my English teacher, my  life advisor, my very best friend, my late-at-night love text messages partner, my smart side, and my complimentary silliness partner. He's the person who light up every morning with a "Hola Amoshi" over the phone at 8+ am on his way to work. He's the one who thinks I'm pretty and the one who proposed a future together forever...and me, with all the words above described, I couldn't say no (insert love face here, please).

Photo 03. Always goofing around- Freshly engaged :-)

 Photo 04. Always goofers, but loving each other dearly

Photo 05. My love, my friend, my secrets keeper, my David.


And just like that, I wanted to close this post...honoring those strong men, those independent men, those multi-functional men, those men I love and i will forever treasure in my heart.