A Love Letter To Melissa

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Patch readers to write a love letter to that special someone and let us deliver it. This is Carlos Riojas' love letter to his wife, Melissa:

“I grew up a military brat and belong to a proud succession of three generations Army. I graduated high school in 1992 and immediately knew I was going to join the service. After basic, I continued to my advanced individual training in San Antonio, TX, home of the Combat Medic School. As we began our orientation, I remember a cadre member telling us, ‘There are going to be at least three couples who get married out of this class.’ I thought to myself, ‘Really, we’re only here for 10 weeks. That’s crazy.’

Our classes were broken down by alphabetical order. My last name began with an R, so I was placed in the room with everyone whose name fell from R-Z. I distinctly remember a young female private who sat next to me, commonly referred to as ‘Private Y,’ simply because no one could pronounce her last name.

It was on our first off-base pass that my battle-buddy and I noticed two females from our class. It was Private Y and her battle-buddy. Being the rebels that we were, we purchased new clothes and changed into them to feel a sense of freedom. After all, we had been in training for at least 10 weeks by this point. My battle-buddy and I had changed quickly, and decided to wait on the two girls from our class. Now remember, when you’re in a training environment, most people look very similar. It’s hard to make notable distinctions. I waited in the lounge area overlooking the long hallway to the bathrooms, I can actually narrow down the moment I fell in love. Private Y was a petite young lady, with beautiful brown curly hair. It was like watching a movie in slow motion as she made her way to where we were sitting. My jaw literally dropped -- she was gorgeous.

Private Y, and I made an instant connection within our first few weeks of training. We were practically inseparable. We both knew that it was something more than puppy love. We just made each other happy. We laughed all the time, and we became best friends. She was the person who I could just talk to all day long, and I never grew tired of just being together.

She was originally from Peru, but grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. I grew up all over the world, but my family resided in Austin, Texas. Our journeys that brought us together were soon taking us on different paths. Private Y joined the Army National Guard to help pay for college and was going back to Connecticut after graduation. I joined the Army to make it my full-time job and was heading to Germany. We were both so young. I was 19 and she had just turned 20. I thought to myself, ‘How could I ask someone to quit college and go off to another country to be with me?’

After graduation, I moved up to Connecticut to be with her for my final 30 days prior to shipping off to Germany. Getting on the plane and leaving her behind was probably the most heartbreaking moment of my life. Our relationship slowly drifted as I was in another country and communication wasn’t as easy as it is today. Our phone calls went from once a week to once a month to every other month, until they faded into memories. She would always be my one true love.

Fast forward seven years. I was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and somehow got into a conversation about the one that got away. My friend had told me that she sounded like an amazing woman and that I should try to look her up. This is back when AOL dial-up was the high-speed internet. So, after a few drinks of liquid courage, I mustered up the nerve to search for her. I knew that she had a unique last name, she had three siblings and I knew the names of her parents. Luckily for me there were only two people in the online yellow pages with her unique name. I called the first one, a lady answered the phone.

Of course, I didn’t want to sound like a creep so I let her know who I was and described the person, ‘Private Y,’ that I was looking for. After a few moments the woman on the other end said, ‘Yes, I know who you are talking about. She is my goddaughter.’ A sense of fear and excitement ran through my body. I gave the woman my name and number and asked if she could please pass it along to Private Y.

That night when I got home, I had a message: It was Private Y. I immediately called her back and we talked every day for a month. Even after all these years, we’d had separate relationships, but nothing that stood the test of time. She came out to visit me for two weeks for my birthday in November, and again for three weeks in December. We both knew that this time was for real. I asked her to marry me during her visit in December, she said, ‘Yes, of course.’ I was deploying to Egypt in January for six months, so as quickly as we were reunited, we were once again separated. But this time, there was an end in sight, and being deployed is one of the greatest ways to save money, because there’s nothing to really spend it on, expect maybe a wedding.

I returned in July from my deployment, I took vacation from Hawaii to Connecticut (some may think this was backwards, but my true love was living in Connecticut at the time). We got married on August 18 2001. This year will be our 17th wedding anniversary. We still hold hands every day and she is truly my best friend and will always be my Valentine!”

--Carlos Riojas

See all Patch love letters here.

For next month's Love In A Small Town feature, we want to know: What place in town will always be a reminder of love for you? Whether it's the park where you had your first kiss or the restaurant where he proposed, email your story to locallove@patch.com for the chance to be featured. Get more the details here.