After watching a lot of movies about enchanted princesses, I grew up with a distorted image of love and what it means to have a couple, to be in a relationship.

I was not the kind of girl who had a crush in adolescence and have the chance to experiment with love and relationships. My love affairs lived in my imagination and I was sure that the place to look for my prince was the university (nothing farther from reality).

I went to the university and enjoyed that stage of my life to its fullest, but a prince or a boyfriend was not included. By the time I was finishing my degree, there was a guy very interested in getting to know me and going out, but his strategy was very straightforward, he was talking about getting married even before a first date, I was just 23 years old and starting to discover the world and myself. I was more interested in exploring possibilities of growth for my professional future than getting stuck in a house with a religious husband. I was afraid and declined the offer in a bad way (I still regret how I did it, but have not regretted my choice).

I also experimented with internet flirting. Do you guys remember Badoo? Does anyone use it right now? Well, I met my first crush on this platform, it was 2008, there was not such a thing as a dating app (and by the time it appears I was done with online dating). He was smart, handsome, and a great communicator. The greatest thing was that he called me every night (an international call every night, WhatsApp was not available by that time). I loved to talk to him, I learned so much about films, Television production, and cultural differences in LATAM… it was like sweet entertainment because there was no sexual content in our conversations. It was caring, affectionate but not sexual. It was absolutely beautiful.

One day he told me he was coming to the brother between the DR and Haiti because he was working on a film about borders in LATAM and the Caribbean. He was spending one or two days in Santo Domingo and he wanted to know me in person. I was paralyzed but very curious about it. I was super private about my almost nonexistent romantic life but talked to one of my cousins about my Badoo’s friend and the possibility to get to know him in person.

• Go for it! Nothing will happen to you. You are giving this opportunity to yourself!

I said Yes (But don’t do this! lol).

We met in a mall, I was nervous, shy and happy all at the same time! I will never forget his eyes, his insistence on taking a picture of me with a professional camera. I was so nervous that I can’t even recall the conversation but it was a beautiful moment in my life. I had a class at the university that evening, so the conversation was not so long. I think it is proof that there are things in life that do not need to be too long to become unforgettable.

It was a sweet/emotional internet love affair, each one continues with our separate lives, but we keep in touch through the years. Almost 5 years after this encounter he sent me an email that is as unforgettable as that day in the mall.

6 ene 2012, 19:20

El lugar donde guardo las semillas literarias en la azotea, estaba vacío.Vacío con el más profundo silencio, silencio que incluso se ancla en la desesperanza. Hoy un día como cualquiera, y en un respiro como los muchos que di ayer, alguien comentó acerca de la voz de la nueva musa de la escena inglesa. No pensaba encontrarme con esa alfombra de café que aroma esa voz, Adele se llama, y yo que en el mundo de las melodías, desde hace mucho cierro las persianas de los oídos para todo lo nuevo, que huela a comercial. Prefería quedarme en los burdeles ochenteros, y la música tapizando los recuerdos. Sin embargo esta Adele cuyo nombre da la sensación de suavidad, me dio una pequeña cucharada de un manjar tan suave que asusta.

La melodía envuelta en letras se llama Someone like you y me pasa que antes incluso de que el piano haga sonar las primeras cuatro notas, yo ya estoy pensando en ti. El inconsciente es el enemigo más despiadado que tiene el ser humano, y el mío no puede si no vestir el mismo uniforme. Se empecina en repasar una y otra vez, los 45 minutos que dura la única película que tengo de ti. En donde fuiste protagonista y yo apenas un espectador, y que está almacenada en la videoteca de mi alma.

Adele ha vuelto a cantar, y yo inicio el viaje mental, exactamente donde quedé la vez anterior. Yo mirándote a lo lejos, y pensando en volverte a ver lo antes posible, un antes posible que ha durado años. A veces me pregunto si en realidad sabrás que no hay película más bella en mi mente, que aquella en donde tu eras la diva bajo los reflectores. Y que hay muchos deseos en el universo de que haya un próximo largometraje, un larga duración, una serie americana de capítulos interminablemente atractivos.Adele que mucho sabe del mundo y del amor, le quitó algunas vivencias a mi inconsciente que tienen que ver con un futuro que jamás quisiera vivir, y construyó una canción, una canción que es más que todo un gran lamento.

Te pienso mucho Fiores,  y el inconsciente que me representa debe haberse quedado prendado al igual que yo, aquel día en un centro comercial que construyeron en las nubes y al cual se llegaba cruzando un arcoiris.

Un abrazo con pasaje a la maquina del tiempo de nuestras vidas...

This year marked a decade since I got this email and I can say without a doubt that this is the more significant love letter I have ever received in my life.

I will never, ever forget this beautiful story.

Thanks for reading!