Ken became my husband on June 19, 2017, in Lisbon, Portugal. It was one of the hottest days of the year. So hot that we barely could stand to be on our shirts. The marriage scheduled to 12.00, end up delayed because one of our witnesses, our friend Manuela, who was pregnant, was stuck in a doctor’s appointment. We were both simple people, and we did not wanted a big party with tons of guests and fancy dressing. We wanted to be married, to become each other’s family and to celebrate the love for each other. Therefore, for us, our marriage was perfect. Every single one of the guests had a role in it. Joaquim was the required translator by law, Luís was the declared document translator, Manuela and my sister Raquel were our witnesses and José was our best man. He had arrived from Madrid the day before and stayed with us and as a guest, we offered him our bedroom, it was hot so he could be more comfortable there with the ventilator. Ken and I last night before married, slept in the sofa, we barely slept, not only because we were nervous but also because of the heat. We had an extra ventilator, but the problem was that it was a pocket ventilator. When we got up in the morning, I was nervous, so nervous that now I look back to the photos and ask myself why I did not trimmed by beard. I think I was nervous mainly because Ken and I had waited for that moment for so long that we were afraid something was going to ruin it. José advised us not to wear the marriage clothes immediately and to carry it on a bag, only dressing it there, because it was so hot the clothes would be sweaty. The week before we had bought the clothes, and Ken, being as usual smarter than I made a better choice, guessing the weather was going to be hot got a short sleeve shirt, I got a long one. We took some photos outside our apartment in the morning, and we both look nervous. Because the marriage’s delay, we all went to have our special wedding lunch before we actually got married. A present from José, we ate at a Japanese restaurant, an all you can eat, which was perfect for us. Finally, around 3 PM, the ceremony begun, but shortly before, they called us to confirm some details about our relation, we started to panic, but all went well. The only thing that upset us was that Ken could not take immediately my name as I took his, some bureaucracy thing that he needed to solve with the U.S Embassy in Lisbon. I adopted my last name as Warren, and so, we became the Warrens. Our marriage was the best decision I made in my life, to become forever bounded one to another. To the best man, best human, brightest, I have ever knew. Once the ceremony concluded, we went to pick our marriage certificates and have a coffee. Because it still was so hot, we headed back home with José and Luís. Listened to some music, talked, and the evening, José’s bottomless generosity stroke again, and he wanted us to have a special wedding dinner, so we all went to another all you can eat restaurant, a Brazilian barbecue. Then again the next day, and the next. During that week, I think we ate more than a month’s worth of food. It was a perfect start of a new life for us.
