Against All Odds

Gabriel and John

Gabriel had moved to the States from Mexico 7 years earlier and had decided to return to Mexico City as he wasn’t happy. At his going away party, held at a bar, his friend said to him, “You just need to find someone to share your life with.” Gabriel’s response was, “Like that’s really easy.” His friend, being the good wingman that he was, suggested he introduce him to this guy who had been noticing Gabriel. He was reluctant and said, “I don’t think so it’s the wrong time to get involved.” Despite Gabriel’s protests, his friend went over to John and asked if him if he would like to meet that guy and pointed toward Gabriel. John thought his friend was pointing at another gentleman and said “No not really, I want to meet that guy.” and pointed his finger at Gabriel. His friend brought him over to meet Gabriel and they hung out the rest of the night.

The next day John called Gabriel at the salon. Gabriel played hard to get, pretended he didn’t know who he was and and asked him if he was calling for a hair cut. Gabriel was just playing it cool because John had used an old trick by taking John’s phone and calling his number so he would have a missed call from Gabriel’s phone and he would have his number. John asked Gabriel to a movie and he said, “I don’t watch movies with strangers.” After further back and forth, they ended up going to a coffee shop–one where Gabriel could get a tea. John mentioned how he loved Gabriel’s eyes and this was when their love story really began. Gabriel decided to stay in California and they began dating.

John knew pretty early on. Gabriel lived with his sister and the way he interacted with his sister was similar to the way that John related to his sister. It felt right from the very beginning and as John exclaims, He’s gorgeous!

For Gabriel, there were many things that told him, he was totally attached to this guy. He too realized early on that they had similar values when it came to family. He invited me for dinner and his sister came and I started to meet his family. Then it just carried on until one day John asked him where this was going and they decided to try living together.

After being together for 6 or 7 years, John had to leave the country when his visa wasn’t renewed. Gabriel knew that it would take time for him to return and he gave John the option of moving on with his life. John decided to find out how to work one week a month in Mexico so he could fly down and see Gabriel and for three years they lived apart, only seeing each other one week a month. They had already been together for years and had a car and business together. They had a month to plan what to do and they sold the business, and the car and Gabriel took the dog and left for Mexico. Every six weeks John would go and work remotely from Mexico City for a week.

During this time, they both had immigration lawyers who were working on getting Gabriel back to California. John had just spoken to his lawyer and called Gabriel on the phone, explaining

I spoke to our lawyer and he said we need to get married, what do you think?

John

Gabriel said Yes. That was the proposal. John’s parents flew down for the wedding. The Mexican lawyer had set up a beautiful chapel for them but it fell through and they ended up getting married in a little tiny hole in the wall government building. The judge was friendly and made the ceremony quite personable. The judge’s words resonated with them when she said, “Now you are family no matter what happens.” They have been married for coming up 8 years.

When asked if they have ever faced issues of non-acceptance, John replied that luckily they have very supportive families and friends. They did have to wait until the law changed within the United States and Gabriel was recognized as John’s spouse in order to start the process of bringing him back to America.

Gabriel believes you have to trust in yourself and your partner and if you need help you have to learn to ask for the help. We try to do everything ourselves and together is easier. With the pandemic, he has noticed how many couples are struggling and he feels blessed because they are enjoying each other’s company and have adapted. Gabriel feels it’s important to be able to ask your partner for what you need.

I think you need to have patience and support each other through everything. You have to be a little selfless to be in good solid relationship.

John

John said that if you really think of your marriage as a partnership then you need to be willing to support the goals of the other person rather than always what is going to work best for you. For example, whatever is going to support Gabriel’s salon is going to be better for me too.

They always say thank you for coming after seeing each other’s family but they both enjoy each other’s family and feel supported by them. Their support is an important part of their marriage.

This couple works because they have similar values around the importance of family and they support one another and help each other move forward with their goals. Broadcast Love wishes them many more years of happiness and joy together.