Puerto Rico & Justin Nozuka

This post shall be known as the "one with all the photos"*. Seriously, there are a lot.

A couple days into our trip, J and I got into conversation about what we thought Puerto Rico was going to be like and what it actually ended up being like. We had both had a weird idea that it was, honestly, kind of slum-like and that it had a lot of gangs. (We watch a lot of movies and are apparently all-around misinformed.)

Actually, it was like this:

Our hotel is that tall, fat building back there. This is what the place looks like just wandering around!

He was so excited to be in the water!

We decided to wander around and see what tourist-y things we could find. We scaled Fort San Cristóbal and found this amazing view of the city. I think it's so cool because it has this giant historic structure surrounded by plush greenery with a modern backdrop. It was just a cool place.

Oh we totally went on a Bacardi Tour. Instead of booking a trip through our hotel (for $60 per person! highway robbery!), we decided to wander around, get lost, find help, get on a $0.50 ferry ride that was extremely sketchy, hop in a taxi where the driver HOTWIRED HIS VEHICLE, and arrive at the Bacardi factory to take a FREE tour including two free drinks!

It was an adventure, and a total scene. My favorite way to travel!

Look how happy this man of mine is with his bottle of rum he drank by himself! Lol, he's so crazy. It was right around this point he told me his thoughts on modern religion, lost his prescription sunglasses in the ocean, and weighed the pros and cons of digging himself a puke pit.

He's such a scene- totally love him. <3

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Ok, so I had one other major surprise for him. We both love this singer/songwriter, Justin Nozuka. He was going to be playing in Boston while Josh was here, so of course it was a sign that God thought we should go see him live. I really wanted to do one more special thing for him, so I contacted any email/number I could find in connection to him and sent them this note:

Dear Mr. X,

I don't know who to reach regarding this request; if there is another person I should have contacted please let me know!

My husband and I will be going to see Justin Nozuka in Boston on September 28th. We are both huge fans of Justin's and my husband will be so excited to see his concert.

Once he knows.

My husband, J, is an active duty soldier in an "undisclosed location" for the year. All I can say is that it is VERY hot where he is! He is coming home for mid-tour leave on September 20th and I am surprising him with tickets to Justin's show. He has no idea we're going.

I met my husband during his first deployment to South Korea; he was stationed at Osan while I was teaching English for the year. The first time we saw one another was in a busy train station in Seoul. As soon as I saw him, it was like something from a movie scene; time stood still. On our first date he stopped in the middle of an antiques street market, looked down at my hand in his and said, "You know we're in a relationship, right?"

At the beginning of our relationship I introduced him to Justin Nozuka's music. (I had found it while browsing Last.fm) I absolutely loved "After Tonight" and then he loved it, too. A month later, he had found the album and we played it constantly when we were together. When he returned to the US while I still had a few months left on my contract, he sent me the link to "Be Back Soon".

Now that he's deployed again, we're back to sending each other love songs. He just sent me "My Heart is Yours".

So I am asking, is there any way Justin could dedicate this song to J, my husband, at his concert next month? Since we could not have the wedding we were planning because of the deployment, we have never had the first dance as husband and wife.

I can't tell you how much it would mean to me.

Thank you so much for your time.

Very sincerely,

C

Ok, now this is so crazy I still can't believe it happened: not only did he dedicate our song to us, he wanted to meet us backstage before the show! I was such a psychopath trying to keep it secret this whole time, but it was worth it when all of a sudden someone came up to us and led us to the backstage area. J had no idea what was going on until we were ushered into the room and Justin Nozuka was reaching out his hand, saying hello, and asking J if he'd like a beer.

It was amazing!

Justin Nozuka= most fantastic musician in the planet and a super nice person

I love J and I'm so thankful to so many people who came together to make his two weeks so great for him. It was a gift beyond any words I could conjure up.

*= also referred to as "longest post known to man"