“Oh hey, by the way, this trip is actually not for work…it’s to spend time with a girl I met,” I told my parents as they dropped me off at DFW airport just before taking off for Guadalajara, Mexico.

“You met a girl? In another country??” Their reaction, in a nutshell.

For a guy who had been very selective with dating, it seemed unbelievable. I could barely believe it myself. But, something about it—something about her—just kept telling me to find out more. And so, I did.

The story of how Dani and I met is very improbable. How do people from different countries meet? And not on the internet, for that matter?

Step 1 of this process came in December 2021, about a year before we even knew of each other’s existence. I sat in my car painstakingly weighing the pros and cons of taking a leap of faith to leave the Finance world at AT&T to pursue a Chief of Staff role in Customer Care, a part of the company, industry, and world I knew nothing about. Something pulled me, so I leapt.

Fast forward a year and I’m visiting parts of our team in other countries all around the world, a couple of which were in Mexico. During my first trip to Mexico City, we were getting the tour of the building and meeting people along the way as we always do when first getting into town. I turn the corner to head into our meeting room for the day when a bubbly girl in a bright blue suit ambushes me with a hug and the type of greeting you’d get from a decades’ long friend. Who was that? She wasn’t part of the itinerary of presentations that day, but she made an impression—at least on me.

The next time I saw her was later that day at dinner. We sat at a long table set for about 20 of us. As usual, I took a seat at the end of the table, giving up the center for my boss and whoever wanted to sit next to him. He and I saw each other every day—I didn’t need the spotlight for the night. In, she swoops. Blue suit girl sits right next to my boss, carrying the conversation from the center of the dinner table all night. She was smart. She made an impression. But, she wasn’t too concerned about me at the end of the table. Oh, well. We lived in different countries, anyways. I went home with some questions I figured would never be answered.

A few months later, I’m back in Mexico for work—this time, for a unique trip to Cancun. “Oh sure…you’re going to Cancun for work,” my friends teased. But I really was! We were hosting a trip of a lifetime at a resort for the top performers of the prior year and I was on the planning committee. So was she. Neither of us thought much of it at the time.

On that first day, we evaluated the situation at the resort and handled our prep activities quickly to free up the afternoon. With some time to spare, we all met up as a team at a pool overlooking the ocean. At some point, the blue suit girl (red suit for the pool, actually) and I naturally broke off from the rest and talked, getting to know each other for the first time. We talked for an hour at one pool, then another hour at another.

For the rest of the trip, we seemed to look for one another at every turn. She acted like she needed help for a speech, so I gave her notes. She laughed at me doing math when organizing gifts for our guests. It seemed like we were connecting, but I decided it was time for a real test. At our first team dinner, there were two tables, so I picked the smaller one that my boss wasn’t sitting at—again, letting others get some facetime. I knew she was tactical about her seat choice from the first time we met. Nevertheless, this time, instead of parking herself right by my boss, she ditched the head table for a spot by me. Hm…

The next few meals were more of the same. If one of us sat in a chair, the other followed closely and sat next by. We were together the rest of the trip. There was even a little water current incident where I valiantly stepped in to drag her back to shore, saving her life. Her words, not mine.

On the last night of the trip, she looked at me, teary-eyed, and said, “promise that you’ll remember me,” as if it was the last time we’d see each other. I said, “how could I forget?” asking her to consider the possibility that maybe we could continue getting to know each other from afar just to see what could happen. She decided to give me a chance.

Fast forward through two months of nightly phone calls and we get back to where this story started: when I was on the way for my first non-work trip to Mexico. Another month or two later, and she was on her way to Dallas. From that point forward, we just kept scheduling trips, talking for hours on the phone (sometimes in Spanish for my practice), and allowed ourselves to keep seeing what might happen.

After about a year and a half, we sat down and decided that 2 countries was 1 too many for us. In the coming months, I’d talk to her family, put together proposal plans, and luck into securing the best photographer in Guadalajara to capture the moment (search credits go to my sister). The proposal story is for another web page at another time.

And now, just about a year after I bought the ring, blue suit girl is now Daniela Correa Mansour: my wife, US resident, permanent dinner date, primary driver of my (our) new car, passionate American football fan, and proud owner of a custom-fitted bowling ball.

We could have never written this story ourselves and are so thankful for all of the support we’ve gotten from our friends, family, and God along the way. We can’t wait to celebrate with you all soon!

La Hisoria en español en la sección (Nuestra Hisoria).