These days we are becoming used to ease and immediacy. We want everything, and we want it now. Luckily or unfortunately, we often get it that way—easily and quickly—and that creates the illusion that we can achieve whatever we want without much effort. But let us not fool ourselves: we may live in a hyper-connected world full of comforts, yet the things that truly matter take effort. They cannot be achieved without effort and they do not understand shortcuts. Who does not want to find the love of their dreams? I imagine everyone does. But how many people keep fighting when it is necessary? That is another question. A beautiful wedding at Hotel Don Gregorio taught me something very important.
Sometimes, through luck or chance, our path crosses another person’s so perfectly that we even come to a standstill. When we finally move beyond that paralysis, we discover that our life will never be the same. “They are everything I dreamed of!” “They are everything I want!” But, as I said at the beginning, what is truly valuable is rarely simple. The question is: how hard will you work to keep your dream alive when things become difficult? I am not saying that love requires suffering. Not at all. But when circumstances beyond your control make things complicated, you have two choices. You can give up: “It is too difficult”; “They are amazing, but they live so far away”; “There will always be a language barrier”; “I wish I could find someone just like them who lived in my neighbourhood, or even in my own building, while we’re at it…” Or you can fight: “It is difficult, but it is worth it”; “They are incredible, and I do not care if I have to cross half the world to be by their side”; “The language is complicated, but Google Translate has done some good”; and simply, “There is nobody else like them.”
I would be lying if I said I did not identify with Bruna and Litos’s story (Carlos). She is from Brazil and years ago came to Salamanca to study, where she met Litos, a man from Salamanca. Theirs is one of those love stories that ends beautifully, even though the protagonists have to live through a thousand adventures and more than a few challenges along the way. Seeing how they had fought through every doubt and problem helped me during a time when I was the one doing the fighting. Seeing love triumph, bringing together families from two different continents in a wedding as emotional as it was magical, recharged my batteries. Even more so when you see the love and tenderness in the way they look at each other. Distance and borders are nothing more than obstacles you can navigate, jump over and overcome… because when you want something, YOU CAN.
Those who have known me for a long time will know that I am talking about the year I spent 18,000 kilometres away from Eliška, but today is not the day to talk about that. Today I want to show you what Bruna and Litos achieved by never giving up, by refusing to surrender to adversity and by always choosing to love each other forever. Think I am exaggerating? Here is a short summary of their wedding at Hotel Don Gregorio. Look at the way they look at each other! 😍
