We are so excited to commence posting some of our fave contest entries, so without further ado, meet Alina and Andrew.
I met him in a smoked up karaoke bar with cheep beer and popcorn for snacks. When I asked his name, I thought, "Drew...what kind of name is that. Sounds like a cough medicine." He asked me where I'm from and I—thinking that he just like other hundreds and hundreds of people wouldn't know where my little Latvia is—was surprised he knew. That was a pleasant change along with his refreshing vibe, that beautiful smile and those light blue eyes.
The second time we met was at a concert where he was so into the music that I could uninterruptedly study him from the venue’s balcony and the more I stared the more I liked what I saw. The night ended with lots of butterflies in my stomach caused by his hand brushing against mine, his little smiles towards me and those funny, silly comments... and simply by his presence alone.
The third time we met was our first date. In three months it would be our last date.
I had to return to my Latvia and finish my university degree and continue to live my ordinary gray life without those beautiful blue eyes admiring me. But soon enough we realized that this can't be the end. One year, 13 days, and 8 hours in future we were living together in my little apartment in Riga, Latvia. Now I'm wearing his great-grandmother’s ring and soon will proudly wear his last name to later share it with our children.
Our three quirky facts:
1) When we started dating most of our friends thought that we are weird, because Andrew started a joke that we are cousins (Andrew's great-grandpa is from Gotland, which is an island in the Baltic Sea near Latvia). At the time they didn't realize that it was really just a joke.
2) I'm the first girl that Andrew has introduced to his parents and I still haven't met his sister after 3 years together.
3) His birthday is the same day as my name day. Name days are important holidays in Latvian culture in which every person has their own name day based on their first name. Serendipitously, we share April 26 as his birthday and my name day.