Our Story from points of view

John - Some of you know Holly and I met in 1998 at Howard Pence Elementary school in Mr. Patterson's track A fifth grade class. I remember at one point in the school year my assigned seat was changed to a grouping of four desks where Holly was assigned to one of those four seats as well. Inevitably I developed a crush on Holly. I remember the excitement of going to school everyday because I’d get to sit near her and work on group projects together.

Sometimes, after school, I would wait near the same area Holly would wait to be picked up. I can only remember her walking home, or to what I believed to be her home, once; and even though it added an extra 5 minutes to my route home I would frequently coerce my brother to take this route telling him it was a short cut. My younger brother Servando wasn’t easily fooled and knew it felt like a longer walk but went along with it probably because I was older.

Holly - I wish I could remember more of my childhood but sadly there are gaps in my memory. I do however, remember sitting on the grass in the front of our school with all the kids that were waiting to get picked up and throwing green french fries at John. We were playfully throwing them at each other for fun. (icicle plants)

John - 5th grade was where it all started for us I think. I have fond memories of Holly from that year. It was in 5th grade that one of our classmates would ask what our favorite video game was. I responded with the title of “Metal Slug”. Our classmates were unfamiliar with the game and laughed at the idea of an actual metal slug sliding across the screen when in actuality the game was very different but the rest of the group didn’t believe my description of the game, except for Holly. I remember how kind Holly was. Holly would always remember vouching on my behalf as to confirm the existence of the game Metal Slug and that it was in fact a good game.

Holly- I definitely recall sitting at the same table with John in Mr. Pattersons 5th grade class. There was a rotation, so we didn’t sit with each other the whole school year. I remember being at a table of just boys. There was a kid named Gilbert, who loved WWE wrestling.. big fan of Undertaker.. another kid named Michael, one of the “popular” kids and then there was John, the nice kid who was good at math. The memory of our Metal Slug discussion always stayed with me even years and years later. I grew up playing video games, so I knew what game John was talking about when he said his favorite was Metal Slug. I remember the other boys laughing at John and making fun of Metal Slug without knowing what game he was talking about. I knew the game was badass. I was more outspoken as a child, especially with boys, so I had no problem standing up for John. From that day forward, in my mind, John was always John Lopez Metal Slug.

John- Another significant memory I have from the 5th grade was Valentine's day. It was just before lunch when our very strict teacher Mr. Patterson announced, “ Alright, let's get ready to start passing out our Valentines cards.” I remember all the kids starting to scramble around, grabbing their cards and making their way to other desks. Our teacher put a quick stop to that. His voice instantly boomed throughout the room “I said we’re going to get ready! I didn’t say anyone can go yet!” As our teacher was directing and scolding the entire class, I saw Holly crouched and stealthily making her way towards my desk to deliver the first Valentines card she would distribute that day. I remember having to rush my delivery of cards because I had lunch assistance duty that day, but when I got back to my desk to look over the valentines cards that were collected at my desk I noticed there was one home made card with a bunny on it and the message “Made especially just for you from… your secret admirer.” We can't confirm that it was Holly but we’ve agreed to believe that it was and I know that is what I believed back then too. I saved the addressed valentine card and the personal card for a couple years after. They were precious keepsakes.

Holly - I definitely remember Valentines Day because I loved handing out Valentines Day cards and was very picky with every detail. I gave out Winnie the Pooh store bought cards and I remember picking a specific message/picture or character for each classmate.

Some things never change. My love language is still gift giving and that is how i'm pretty sure that I was the one who made the home made card for John. Not many people had access to PCs in the 90s and at school we just had the IBMs at the time. I didn't have a PC at home, but I had access to one at my cousin's house, where I would walk to after school. They had a PC and an American Greeting Cards program for making personalized cards. Although I can't 100% remember making the card, I do remember the words “Made especially just for you” and I always loved the idea of secret admirers. I had a habit of leaving secret love notes for my mother as a child, so this sweet gesture has me written all over it, especially with a bunny on it. John reminded me of this memory during our time reuniting for the 5th time in 2016 and so I made another handmade bunny Valentine for John for Valentine's Day 2017. This will be displayed at our wedding reception sweetheart table.

John - The end of the school year rolled around but my summer break was unfortunately cut short because I was being assigned to a new school for the sixth grade. It was at this new school where I met my lifelong best friend and told him about Holly, the girl I had a crush on from my old school. I took some comfort knowing that both the school I had previously attended and the new school I was now attending would graduate to 7th grade at Montgomery Middle School.

Holly - I continued into sixth grade, Mrs. Gonzalez class. I had some big responsibilities at home taking care of my new baby sister Ashley. My primary focus was school, helping out with my baby sister and there were so many changes at home. I don't recall how I felt about John being gone..

John - At middle school I knew some of what Holly was involved in at school, though I never worked up the courage to talk to her. I heavily debated signing up for KMMI, the video production program, because Holly was enrolled in it and all KMMI students had the same class schedule. I didn’t end up doing that so I went the entirety of 7th and most of eighth grade never interacting with Holly. Until one day in the last week of eighth grade during our 8th grade celebration fair.

Holly - Middle school sucked. It was the worst. Things were changing at home. I stayed busy, joining KMMI (Multimedia program) and color guard in the marching band. John and I have talked about this many times.. how we both were going through hard times. John was diagnosed with Diabetes at 13 and I was just a sad kid who needed a friend. We wished we were there for each other in all the hard times in our life. We believe we were there in spirit, but just weren't ready to fully reunite. We did however reunite for a few seconds during our end of 8th grade party. I remember seeing John, thinking, “I think that's John Lopez Metal Slug” and that's exactly how I would greet him. “John Lopez? MetalSlug!”

John - …and just as before, I was off again knowing that I was going to a different school from Holly for the next four years of High School.

Holly - I remember it was nice to see an old friend. I kind of wondered where he’d been the whole time, but was always happy to see John.

John - The four years of high school flew by and in a similar style as the last time I saw Holly, we once again ran into each other in what seemed as a “what are the chances” moment. Our class of 2006 had the Southern California traditional grad night of so many Southern California High schools getting to go to Disney Land all together on the same night. As I was waiting in line for the ride Splash Mountain one of my old friends spotted me as he and his group of friends, Holly being one of them, were off boarding and heading away from the ride. After just a second, Holly voiced, “Wait? John Lopez?! Metal Slug!” I was thrilled that once again she remembered me after all that time. But once again just a recognition in passing and the moment was over.

Holly - Grad night was cool. I went with my best friend James, Robert (who also went to Howard Pence with John and I), Cameron, and John's best friend Juan. I didn't know John and Juan were best friends. There were many other high schools there. We pretty much made our way through the entire park and later in the night we ended up at Splash Mountain. Someone from my group spotted John's group and went up to them. John was wearing sunglasses and he had long hair. He looked very different from the last time I saw him in 8th grade, but somehow I knew it was him. Without a second thought, I said “Hey John Lopez! Metal Slug!” I always thought about those short reunions, but at the time, that's all they were.

John - The next time we saw each other was at least one full year into college. I was trying to get into a class that I needed to retake from a failed attempt my first semester in college but as I was waiting near the building, I was asked by a shy but smiling voice, “Is your name John Lopez?” I realized who I was standing next to and replied, “Yes. Holly?” and she confirmed yes as well. She told me she had just gotten out of a class. I only had five minutes before my class got in. I realized this would be the best chance I would get to be able to spend time with Holly and so I opted to forgo retaking the class that semester and taking the opportunity to spend a class break together on a regular basis for a few weeks. Would meet up at the same time twice a week. I would sometimes bring my guitar and play Beatles songs. Once I remember playing and singing “in My Life” for her but in my mind I knew I was singing it dedicated to her. For some reason these meetups began happening less and less. Unfortunately we hadn’t exchanged phone numbers so we essentially just lost contact once again.

Holly - Running into John at SWC was pretty surreal. It was the first time I remember feeling nervous about saying hello, but unlike before, this wasn't just in passing. We were able to actually spend some time together. I didn't give it much thought at the time, as to the reason we would keep meeting, but I remember those meetings fondly, especially those times sitting with John, under the same tree in between classes. I remember people watching with John and making up stories for people that were passing by.. Really silly stuff, but I felt comfortable enough around John to make my stupid silly jokes. I remember John playing guitar and singing. I felt kind of special being next to him. We all know John has such a nice singing voice. It was definitely one of those memories that stayed with me for a while when I'd look back and think of times I felt special. I considered dating John in college, but I thought he would probably only ever see me as a friend in passing.

John - Some other decent amount of years had passed without us knowing anything about each other. 2016 rolled around and one of my best friends' birthday was coming up so I got us tickets to see Guns and Roses. My friend and I first found our seats and then went off to get drinks. As we were passing waves and waves of people making their way in, it happened again. We caught sight of each other and simply expressed “ITS YOU!” in a look, but in a repeated fashion it was just in passing. Coincidentally I had just recently told my friend about Holly as a former crush that never happened so as soon as we were no longer near her I turned to my friend and told him “She was the one I was telling you about!” I spent the whole concert enjoying the music but also scanning the audience in hopes of finding her. I was able to find her and run into her one more time on the way out. Just over two months later we would be in each other's lives for the rest of our lives.

Holly - Man.. this memory is kind of a crazy one. If you've ever seen the movie Serendipity, it felt like that, like all of it, but in 8 seconds. In a huge moving crowd of people, I was getting pushed through because everyones trying to get to their seats and all of a sudden I saw John to my left. We both recognized each other at the same time, but the crowd kept moving. I said, “Hey! Its you!” Time froze and in slow motion, I looked back and said, “okay bye I guess”. I felt sad. I think we both did. It was a weird way to start the GNR concert. I got to Qualcomm late, just barely made the last two songs from The Cult and just tried to shake it off. Then suddenly during GNR, I see John about 15 or so rows ahead of me. I kept thinking, “that's so weird.” The phrase, “weird not weird” became very special to us throughout our relationship for these types of serendipitous moments. We eventually realized we were receiving many little “gifts from the universe” and would often talk about how lucky we were to have found each other so many times.

John & Holly - There were so many milestones crossed when we reunited in 2016. We had known each other for 18 years, my sister had just turned 18, it was the year of my golden birthday, and I was going through a deep dark Saturn return. It seems that through our life we kept running into each other at different moments. If we look back at it the pattern seems to be at the end of something. The end of elementary school, the end of middle school, the end of high school, I’m not sure what the college part was the end of but I do know it was just before I started more actively pursuing the passion for acting and my introduction to improv, and then the end of the Gun’s N Roses US tour which was titled “Not in this Lifetime”. It may seem coincidental to some but to us it has felt more grand. We believe we probably weren't ready to fully reunite all those other times, but this last time was exactly the right time. Our reunion was transformative and healing in the best way.. Getting together made perfect sense, in that we are mirrored selves, opposite but also the same. It felt very natural, like we've known each other our whole lives because we truly believe we have. We were reunited with a mission in mind for unconditional love. We have definitely walked that path together. We’ve recognized ourselves as each other's twinflames and feel blessed to finally be joined in this union and fortunate to share our story with you all.

J&H

Wedding Day