This love story of a Venezuelan and a gringo starts in the mailroom of an apartment building in the little city of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was July 2020 - peak Covid. Luisa had just moved in after finishing her residency program in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Emmett was new to Cincy as well, having moved from Charlotte for a new job 6 months prior. One fateful afternoon while working from home, Emmett took his new rescued puppy, Sandor, outside for a quick walk in-between calls. On his way back up, he made the best decision of his life -- to stop by the mailroom to check his mail. It was just like in the movies; Emmett had his view obstructed by the open mailbox door and when he closed it, he saw the most beautiful woman standing behind it across the room with her chocolate labrador (Ramon), fumbling through her mail, trying to make a coffee and keep her dog under control who had clearly taken notice of Sandor. Emmett, being the opportunistic fellow that he is and knowing he had an ace in his hand with little 6 month old Sandor, saw the opportunity to say hello to an unfamiliar face in the new apartment community. As anyone would expect, Luisa fawned over Sandor who was overjoyed for the extra attention after being cooped up all day while Emmett was busy working. During their brief interaction Emmett could tell Luisa wasn't from the Midwest but was surprised when asking where she was from, she responded "Texas".... This answer was unexpected and perplexing to Emmett, but seeing Ramon and her overflowing mail was cueing for the conversation to cut short, he told her about his favorite dog park that was a few blocks away where he took Sandor every day after work hoping he would see her there soon. Every day after their encounter, Emmett took Sandor to the dog park eagerly waiting; hoping that he'd see Luisa and Ramon walk through the entry gate so he could have another chance to get to know her. It wasn't until 3 weeks later that Luisa and Emmett finally crossed paths at the dog park. Emmett thinking he should play it cool -- it was after all 3 weeks later and they had been wearing Covid masks during their brief interaction at the apartment -- went up to Luisa and said "hey, don't you live in my building?". Little did he know how offensive this was to Luisa, how could he have already forgotten her?! Luckily Emmett, already in the dog house, had Sandor to save the day. Sandor clearly remembered Luisa and was obsessed with the ball she had brought for Ramon, making this puppy a world-class wingman who bought Emmett some extra time with Luisa to start winning her over. After that first encounter at the dog park, Luisa and Emmett started running into each other everywhere the following week: at the dog park, random places in their neighborhood and on the rooftop of their apartment where Luisa liked to study for her boards exam and Emmett would catch up on work emails. These exchanges led to having drinks at the dog park and eventually their first date -- empanadas at Emmett's apartment (it was Covid so restaurants were only open for take-out!). Luisa showed up in a stunning yellow dress and a bottle of 1956 rum she brought to the US from Venezuela. Little did they know that this small box of empanadas would turn into regular evenings cooking pasta, paella and many asian dishes together, to moving in together, to getting engaged in Biarritz, France and now getting married in Madrid, their favorite city in the world.