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Milagros and Tony Santiago celebrating her 19th birthday
On December
31, 2008, at 11:30 PM I was at Thunderbird Hospital in
Phoenix, Arizona with my wife. She was hospitalized on
Christmas Day with double pneumonia and placed in the
special care unit. Our children and grandchildren were home
waiting for me, but I did not want to leave my wife alone on
New Years Day. I wanted to be by her side when the clock
struck 12. You see, we have been married for 38 years and I
thank God everyday for giving me such a wonderful wife. Even
though we have grown old together, I can still remember the
first day that I laid my eyes on her.
Puerto Rico, the land of Enchantment
The year was 1971, the United States was still scarred with
the racial riots of the 1960s during the Civil Rights
movement, political assassinations and the Vietnam War. It
seemed as the whole world was a mess when I was discharged
from the Marine Corps. I was a native New Yorker who had
served two tours in Nam. During this time my father (my
parents were divorced) had moved to Puerto Rico and founded
The Puerto Rico Real Estate Corp., a small business with a
big name. When I was asked at Camp Pendleton, where did I
plan to go upon my discharge, I had a choice, I could have
returned to New York City where I had a job waiting for me
in a bank or take a short vacation and visit my dad in
Puerto Rico (my mother who had re-married had also moved to
the island). I thought about all the horrors of war that I
and my fellow men had been through for an ungrateful nation.
I thought about how badly and unfair our soldiers were being
treated by the media and war protesters. I thought about the
discrimination which I had witnessed and been subject to
just because I was Puerto Rican. I then decided go to Puerto
Rico, not knowing what fate had in store for me.
The day was March 28, when I arrived at San Juan
International Airport. Here I was, a young 21 year old
Marine in my uniform with a chest full of medals waiting for
my father to pick me up. Even though I didn’t know much
Spanish, since we barely spoke it at home, and the island
was hot and humid, it felt great to be in the land where my
parents were born. I thought to myself "In the United States
people could tell me Go Back to Puerto Rico, even though I
was born in New York, in Puerto Rico, I figured that no one
could be prejudice against me for being Puerto Rican". Well,
my father finally arrived and after the required hugging,
loaded my bags in his car and took off.
Love at first sight
After about an hours ride, we were finally in the town of
Bayamon where my father lived. I was busy enjoying the view
and as we were getting closer to my father’s house, my
father suddenly turned to me and said: "See that girl
walking over there?" I looked and for a moment I couldn’t
believe my eyes. There was this beautiful girl, walking
alone on the sidewalk, her golden hair so nice and long, her
body so perfect, she was wearing an outfit that was called
something like "Coolot" which was a short pants that
resembled a mini-dress. And when I saw her face, My God! I
had never seen such a beautiful face in my life. She was a
goddess, I kid you not. You ever hear the 1963 song "Just
one look, and I fell in love, love, LOVE" sung by Doris
Troy?, well, that’s how I felt. Anyway since I was so cool
(at least I thought I was), I answered my dad’s question:
"Yes, she is very pretty". Then my dad said: "She is our
next door neighbor" My mind went wild and I thought to
myself "WHAT!, Holy S--t". Then I turned to my father and I
told him the following: "She is? Well you know what? She is
going to be my girlfriend and my wife". My father laughed
and said "Tony, you always say that about all the girls" and
I answered, "Not this time, this is the one".
The next day I went out to my fathers balconey, hoping to
get a glimpse of her and there she was on the balconey of
her house. We looked at each other and you know that saying
"I must be in heaven because I just saw a angel looking at
me" well it’s true, this was love at first sight. I waved
and said "Hi" and she looked at me and smiled and waved then
she went inside her house. So I went to the back yard and
started shooting some hoops. That is when I realized that
someone was checking me out. Yep, some one was behind the
window blinds in her house starring and I knew that it just
had to be her. Despite the fact that I was and still am a
terrible basketball player, I tried my best to impress the
stranger checking me out. Soon this little 8 year old boy
from the neighborhood called "Peter" came to my door with a
note from her. She wanted to know my name, in Spanish! (she
didn’t know English). Of course I didn’t waste any time and
I sent her a note in return with my name and in turn asked
for her name. Peter returned with another note and that is
when I found out that her name was "Milagros" which in
English means miracle. What a beautiful name, the most
beautiful name that I have ever heard.
I then did what any red blooded American of Puerto Rican
descent would have done in my place. I took a crash course
in Spanish. I started by reading a Spanish bible and
watching Spanish T.V. If something came up that I didn’t
understand I would ask my dad. I found out that she was
seventeen, she had just recently celebrated her seventeenth
birthday that March 25th. You remember that song by the
Beatles "She was just seventeen, and you know what I mean,
the way she looked was beyond compare"? Well, I think that
they had her in their mind when they wrote it, plus we were
both born on March, I took that as a good sign.
Now let me tell you, in New York I was the type of guy who
would go up to any girl, put my arm around her and end up
going out with her. But, in her case she made the first move
by sending me notes and I felt like a wimp, so a week later
I finally asked her for a date. I didn’t dare go to her
house because she was an only daughter and her father didn’t
strike me as the friendly type, so we decided to go
separately and meet at my mother’s house in Levittown in the
nearby town of Toa Baja. I arrived first and waited for her
at the bus stop. After she arrived we walked together and
talked. I introduced her to my family and we went with my
sister Greta and her boyfriend to this place called Isla de
Cabra (Goat Island, romantic isn‘t it?). Once we were there,
I whispered to my sister to get lost and then finally I was
alone with the girl who would turn out to be the love of my
life. We talked for a while, she had the most amazing smile
and when I looked into her beautiful eyes it was as if we
were the only two people in the world. Yes, it was like that
song made popular by the Flamingos "I only have eyes for
you". Then we kissed and I told myself "Oh my God, I am in
love and I barely know her". I knew then that I was going to
marry this girl and spend the rest of my life with her. I
asked her to be my girlfriend right there and then. Do you
know what she answered? She said yes!
We would call each other everyday and talk for hours, plus
she would tell her parents that she was going to visit a
friend and we would see each other secretly. During this
time we agreed to be completely honest with each other and
we told each other all of the details of each others lives,
both the good and the bad. We promised to always be faithful
and if one of us fell out of love we promised that we would
break up before double crossing each other with some one
else.
The Tortilla incident
By May, Milagros’ mother finally allowed me to visit her at
her house as long as her father was not there. Her mother
was really nice and even felt sorry for me because I was so
skinny. That worked out to my favor because I was invited
(when her father wasn’t there) for dinner almost everyday. I
also found out that Milagros knew how to cook. One day she
made me a Tortilla (which in Puerto Rican means egg omelette
) the only thing was that she over did it with the salt and
it reminded me of the taste that you get when the water of a
wave gets into your mouth. She was so happy because it was
the first time that she made something for me and then she
asked "Como esta?" (How is it?) I told her "It is salty and
kind of reminds me of the beach". Man, did she get mad. It
was the first time that I had ever seen her mad. It was the
prettiest mad face that I had ever seen.. Needless to say,
she didn’t make me another Tortilla for years. Finally one
day, I asked Milagros to marry me. I told her that I was
very serious about this and that if she married me it would
be until death do us part. You see, my parents divorced when
I was a child and I didn’t want any children that we may
have in the future to go through what I did. I also promised
that I would find a job at a bank (I was unemployed) and go
to college. You know what? She said yes! Then she told her
mom. I thought for sure that she was going to kill me or
something, but to my surprise she became happy as hell. The
father did not know.
The Coconut incident
June arrived and I decided to ask her father for his
daughters hand in marriage. Now picture this: Milagros was
seventeen and an only daughter. We had only known each other
for only three and a half months. We were planning on
getting married in August, exactly five months after we
first met. When I went to her house Milagros and her mother
told me that the father was in the driveway cutting open a
coconut. They promised that they were going to be behind me
when I went in there to talk to him and I said "Let’s go". I
quietly walked up to him and said "Mr. Rivera, I would like
to talk to you" He had this huge machete in his hand and was
hacking away at this poor coconut like it was his worse
enemy. He looked mean and didn’t even look up to me when he
asked "What do you want to talk about?" I took a deep breath
and said "I would like your daughter’s hand in marriage". He
just kept hacking away and asked "When?" That is when I
looked around and realized that I was all alone with a man
with a machete in his hand. Milagros and her mother were
nowhere in sight. I told myself "Oh man, this is it! This is
the end of the road, this is where I die" and then I
answered "In August". He then took one great swing at the
poor coconut and said "O.K.". I couldn’t believe it, I got
out of there as fast as I could before he changed his mind
(No, I didn’t pee on myself) and mistook me for the coconut.
God Bless the day I found her
Tony the Marine with his beloved Milly
Needless to say, we were married at Bayamon’s St. Agustin
church on August 20th. Even though almost everybody believed
that our marriage wouldn’t last, it didn’t matter to me
because it was one of the best things that I have ever done
in my life and if I had to do it a hundred times over I
would do it without a second thought. Only nine people
attended our wedding (No, my future father-in-law with his
machete and the coconut did not go), but I didn’t care, I
mean after we exchanged our vows, the rings and we sealed
our love with a kiss, I looked at my wife and as the lyrics
to the song "So much in Love" by Tymes would say: "As we
stroll along together, Holding hands, walking all alone. So
in love are we two, That we don't know what to do. So in
love, In a world of our own." I knew that God had blessed me
more then I deserved. The Marine and the girl next door will
be together for evermore.
Now thirty eight years later we have three wonderful
children, two sons Antonio and Jose, a daughter Nilda and
two beautiful granddaughters Isabel and Nina. My wife is
fine now, she is out of the hospital, but every time that I
look at her, my partner, my best friend, the love of my
life, I think about the tune sung by the Everly Brothers
which goes "God Bless the day I found you, I want to stay
around you, now and forever, let it be me"..
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