How David and Olivia Didn’t Meet

How David and Olivia Didn’t Meet

As I said in “How I Met the Love of My Life” I logged a lot of miles on the western highway in Arizona and California while I was attending school in Tucson. Not too long after Tina and I were engaged, we made a trip to Tijuana, Mexico to meet her parents who were staying there with Tina’s sister, Olivia. It would be my first trip to Tijuana, Mexico in twenty years.

Olivia was working as a bookkeeper as I recall. We went directly there just as soon as we crossed the border. Olivia was delighted to meet me, and was genuinely happy for her little sister, Tina. She struck me as a very pleasant, attractive woman and it soon occurred to me she would be an ideal match for my uncle David.

We spent an hour or so with Olivia and then headed off to her apartment in a very nice ‘colonia’ on the edge of town where we were to meet her parents. There I met Ernestina and Jose Briones for the very first time. It was a pleasant meeting and I was un-expectedly comfortable the entire time, even though I was the only ‘gringo’ around.

I was genuinely impressed with my first encounter with south-of-the-border Mexican hospitality. Not sure how I would be received, I was a little un-settled. But, everyone went out of their way to make me feel welcome and comfortable. (I soon learned that was [is] the Mexican way). To be anything else was considered “mal educado” (bad up-bringing).

Mamá Briones soon had me at the dining table filling my hungry tummy with delightful, tasty Mexican soup and tortillas. I had never tasted any soup so savory, even though my mother was an excellent cook. She just never cooked Mexican food like that! My idea of a tortilla was pretty much of flour. Oh, we had corn tortillas, but back then they tasted like cardboard and were about as stiff and dry. The only thing they had in common with tortillas south of the border was that they were round and flat. After that the resemblance ended. Therefore, flour tortillas were preferable. But, not so that day! Fresh off the ‘placas’ from the local tortillería, these things were hot, supple, moist and oh-so flavorful! They were addicting! For me it was gourmet at its most basic and economical level. Do these people know how good they have it, I wondered? (Little did I know it was a preview of things to come).

Even though I was quite full, Mamá Briones kept insisting I had not eaten enough. She couldn’t understand how I could be full so quickly. Maybe it’s because I was not walking to town and back like they were used to doing. Those calories had to go somewhere! Anyway, it was another thing I soon learned- that when you accept an invitation from a Mexican to eat, be prepared to EAT! These people are not stingy, and will gladly share even their last tortilla with you.

After the meal, I napped while Tina brought Olivia up to date on our plans, and where I had to go before we could get married more than a year hence. Soon, we had to leave and just as we were crossing back over the border, I mentioned to Tina that my uncle David had just been divorced and I thought it was a good idea to introduce him to Olivia. Well, the idea didn’t fly. Unfortunately, according to Tina, Olivia had just been dumped by a boyfriend, and Tina didn’t think it was a good idea to give her false hopes since Olivia was still smarting from the break up. She was still emotionally unsettled and apparently had told Tina so in a previous conversation. I reluctantly let the matter drop.

About 3 months later when I was in Vietnam, Tina sent me a letter stating she thought it would be a good idea to introduce David to Olivia, and what did I think? I was floored! What happened between the time I mentioned it and now? I had to ask. What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. Tina had never met David before I had proposed my idea. After she met him and saw his handsome chiseled features and his soft-spoken manner, she knew it would be a big mistake to let this ‘gringo’ get away!

This is as far as my involvement goes. Of course the story doesn't end here, but that part has to be filled in by two other women, and they are Herlinda and Tina. As soon as they make available to me there accounts, I will add them as part two of this title.