Our Photographic Memories Synthesize This Long Voyage.
Through The Magical Universe That We Create.
We Nurture, Explore, And Conquer Day By Day,
With Fantasies, Dreams, And Projects.
We Assess Every Moment Of Our Existence.

There Is Not A Word That Encompasses To Thank You "Werita"
For This 11 Years Of Happiness That We Have Shared Together,
This Odyssey That Will Last At Least Another 50 Years.

Gracias "Werita"

Sincerely

“Piloncillo”

Y Vamos por Otros 50....

By Emilio Pericoli

Non credevo possibile
Si potessero dire queste parole
Al di la, Del bene piu prezioso, Ci sei tu
Al di la, Del sogno piu ambizoso, Ci sei tu
Al di là delle cose più belle
Al di là delle stelle, ci sei tu
Al di là, ci sei tu per me, per me, soltanto per me
Al di la, Del mare piu profondo, Ci sei tu
Al di la, Del limiti del mondo, Ci sei tu
Al di la, Della volta infinita, Al di la della vita Ci sei tu,
Al di la, Ci sei tu per me
Lá lá lá láAl di lá, Ci sei tu, Ci sei tu.

By Lucho Gatica

Más Allá; Del Bien Más Deseado, Estás Tú.
Más Allá; Del Sueño Ambicionado, Estás Tú.
Más Allá; De Las Cosas Más Bellas.
Más Allá; De Una Estrellas, Estás Tú.
Más Allá Estás Tú, Mi Amor, Mi Amor, Solo Para Mí.

Más Allá; Del Más Profundo Abismo, Estás Tú.
Más Allá; Del Límite Del Mundo, Estás Tú.
Más Allá; Del Destino Infinito, Más Allá De La Vida.
Estás Estás Tú, Más Allá, Estás Tú Para Mí.

Más Allá; Del Destino Infinito, Más Allá De La Vida.
Más Allá; Estás Estás Tú, Más Allá, Para Mí.

Performance by Johnny Mathis
Written by Cole Porter

When they begin the beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender
It brings back a night of tropical splendor
It brings back a memory ever green

I'm with you once more under the stars
And down by the shore an orchestra's playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the beguine

To live it again is past all endeavor
Except when that tune clutches my heart
And there we are, swearing to love forever
And promising never, never to part

What moments divine, what rapture serene
Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted
I know but too well what they mean

So don't let them begin the beguine
Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the beguine

Let them begin the beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you
Till you whisper to me once more, darling, I love you
And we suddenly know what heaven we're in when they begin

When they begin the beguine
When they begin the beguine
When they begin the beguine

"Lo Pasado Pasado" by José José

Ya lo pasado, pasado
No me interesa
Si antes sufrí y lloré
Todo quedó en el ayer
Ya olvidé, ya olvidé
Ya olvidé
Tengo en la vida por quien vivir
Amo y me aman, soy feliz
Ya nunca más estaré
Solo y triste otra vez
Es el ayer, ya olvidé
Ya olvidé
Pido un aplauso para el amor
Que a mí ha llegado
Mil gracias por tanto
Y tanto amor
Vivo enamorado
Hoy me he enamorado
Que feliz estoy, soy feliz
Ya todo he olvidado
Ya todo el pasado
Ya le dije adiós
Ya lo olvidé
Ya olvide ya olvide ya olvide
Pido un aplauso para el amor
Que a mí ha llegado
Mil gracias por
Tanto y tanto amor
Vivo enamorado
Y me he enamorado
Que feliz estoy, soy feliz
Ya todo he olvidado
A todo el pasado
Ya le dije adiós

When they begin the
The beguine is a dance and music form, similar to a slow rhumba. It was popular in the 1930s, coming from the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, where in local Creole Beke or Begue means a White person, and Beguine is the female form. It is a combination of Latin folk dance and French ballroom dance, and is a spirited but slow, close dance with a roll of the hips[1] (a movement inherited from rumba)[2]

After Cole Porter wrote the song "Begin the Beguine", the dance became more widely known beyond the Caribbean. The song was introduced in Porter's Jubilee (1935).

By Gianni Marchetti

Main Theme of the Movie "Il sole nella pelle" filmed in 1971.

by Franck Pourcel

"Midnight Cowboy" Soundtrack Track

By Debbie Zapata "La Werita Escritora"

The Universe knows where I am supposed to be,
When I should be there, and who I should be with.
The correct road is always under my feet.
All I have to do is believe. And keep walking.

By Debbie Zapata "La Werita Escritora"

When Marco asked for my thoughts for this 11th anniversary video, I'm sure he never imagined that I would start back in the days long before we met. But I want to quickly revisit those years, because I think that is one way to show just how much of an impact he has made on my life and why we feel we have been surrounded by magic during our eleven years together.

Of course every couple in love believes that their story is unique: the most beautiful ever told, destiny written in the stars, the world began the day they met, and so on. We are no different, but I think we truly did have some help from The Universe in finding each other.

I had a few serious relationships in my younger days, and I was married for nearly seven years once. But when my divorce was final in 1992, I swore up down and sideways that I would never again get involved with any man. I was exhausted and angry. The men in my life had not abused me physically but they each left deep emotional scars that may never completely heal. Enough was enough. NEVER again!

It's a funny thing about that word 'never', though. The Universe has such a bizarre sense of humor that people who say 'I'll never. . . " (fill in the blank however you wish) sooner or later end up doing that very thing. When I was ten years old I said I would never live in a mobile home but later I spent some wonderful years working on a horse farm living in a mobile home that came with the job, and I loved it. As a teenager I said I would never marry a mechanic. That resulted from sharing a bathroom with a brother who was taking shop classes to learn how to work on cars. What a mess! And sure enough my first husband was a mechanic. But he was a tidier one, I will say that for him.

The point is that I should have known from my own history that saying 'never' was not exactly proof against something happening in the future. The Universe is always listening. I think when we say 'never' The Universe laughs, says 'Wanna bet?', and starts planning. I suppose the lesson here is that even after heartache and anger we have to trust the path we are on. Aren't we lucky that The Universe is patient?! It allows us time to get ready for the next steps on our little road. And sometimes it even gives us hints about what we can expect to discover along the way.

One night in 1995 I had one of what I call my message dreams. This is a type of dream that always turns out to be a glimpse of the future. In this dream I was on the sidewalk downtown, watching a parade that was just about over. As the marching finished up the spectators on both sides of the street began to roam around, heading for their cars or gathering together to talk about where to go next. I happened to see someone across the street and I knew he was waiting for me. So I started through the crowd, but the people kept blocking my way, and I could not get a good look at this man. Then when I was in the middle of the street, my view cleared and I saw him. He was not as tall as me. He had dark hair and smiling dark eyes. His spirit touched mine and I sensed that he knew me inside and out, all the good and the bad, and yet he loved me anyway. He had been looking for me for many years. And my heart responded with joy. It seems I had been searching for him for many years also. I said 'Oh, there you are!' and I moved closer but I woke up just before I reached him.

And I was scared spitless.

I was only three years into a deeply satisfying man-hating mood. How could I possibly handle another relationship then or ever? I really really was not interested. How dare The Universe expect me to get involved again! I didn't need to worry, however, because while the dream eventually did come true (with just a few minor alterations) it was not until September of 2008 that I found myself walking with a sense of deja vu towards a man who would prove to be the partner The Universe had been preparing me for all along.

Between 1992 and 2008 I had experienced many changes. I had major surgery, relocated from a Texas border town to an Arizona one, moved back in with my parents, found a new job, and nursed my grudge towards men. I also discovered the reason for the unusual physical issues I had been dealing with my whole life: it can be a relief to learn that you have an actual condition, that you are not just weird. My health crashed, not for the first time in my life, but more extremely than ever before. At least this time I knew why. I had to give up my job when my body insisted it could not continue, and I spent the years from 1997 to 2008 working very hard at becoming normal again. Normal for me, that is, which is not anywhere near normal for other people. I slowly regained strength and was able to begin walking through town, and yard work became a productive form of physical therapy. I worked myself up to where I could be active for about three hours each day before running out of energy.

I thought I was doing great, but I did have two inner issues during the last couple years of this phase. I felt that I was stuck on a plateau physically, for one thing. Whenever I tried to break my three hour activity limit, my body went on strike and I would have to skip a few days before I could manage any activity again. I was working for consistency, for the ability to be active every day without the need for excessive downtime. But that three hour barrier was too solid. I just couldn't break through it.

I also had begun to feel lonely for a companion. I had been concentrating so fiercely on my own health, on recuperating and becoming myself again, that the anger and bitterness faded away to almost nothing. I started to wish for someone to talk with, someone to laugh with. Someone who cared for me the way I wanted to be cared for: with respect, love, and integrity. But who would want me? I could not stand up for very long, I could not sit down for very long. I could walk some days, other days I couldn't get out of bed. Who would ever be able to understand or cope with all of my physical limitations? How could I ask anyone to do that when I could barely tolerate them myself? Besides, I had sworn 'never again', and now I had even more reason to live with no man in my life: it simply would not be fair to expect anyone else to live in my severely restricted world. So I tried to ignore the loneliness, but I thought about my dream every so often. What would I do if That Man showed up now?

Marco doesn't remember the very first time he spoke to me, but I do. My doctor had suggested going to the local pool for water aerobics, and I had been there for maybe a couple of months, splashing around and watching the real swimmers do their daily laps. There was one guy that swam so easily, it seemed as if he was part of the water. He did flip turns, he did all four swim strokes, and he looked so pretty while doing them: I never tired of watching him. I love to watch anyone who has more of a partnership with their bodies than I have with mine, whether they are swimmers, dancers, any kind of athlete or whatever. If a person moves gracefully, I notice them. And I certainly noticed this man!

One day I was in my corner of the pool (by then the informal class had broken up but I kept going because I liked the way I felt in the water) when I saw that The Swimmer had finished his routine but instead of leaving the pool as usual he was swimming over to me! We traded hellos and then he asked if I wanted to learn how to swim, that he had a class and could teach me. I said no, that I wouldn't be able to do that. Then he did a flip turn right in front of me, like a playful otter would have done, and popped up again to say 'But look, it's easy!'

I didn't want to try and explain that I couldn't do the repetitive motion necessary for swimming without hurting myself, so I just laughed and said 'Easy for you!' We chatted about odds and ends for a bit, then he left and I went back to splashing around. And other than some shy smiles and hellos, and a few short visits with each other when we crossed paths while I was walking and he was riding his bike, we didn't have another real conversation until months later in September.

By then I had given up the splashing around and was spending my exercise time wallowing happily in the therapy pool. That was even better for me than the regular pool, and it was entertaining when some of the Real Swimmers went in after their laps to sit and relax in the bubbly water. They teased and kidded each other and I eavesdropped shamelessly. One day Marco was there too, and the next thing I knew we were talking and laughing together as if we had known each other since time began.

That was the first of many long chats in the therapy pool. We learned a lot about each other and I was beginning to wonder if this man might be someone I was could connect with on a deeper level. I could hardly believe that thought myself: I wanted to spend more time with a man! I wanted to get to know him better, to listen to his voice longer, to laugh with him again and again.

One day I had to go to the bank. They weren't open yet when I got there so to keep from having to stand still and wait I walked around the block a few times. When I came around to the entrance the final time I saw Marco standing there with his bike. He was facing me but I didn't know if he was watching me. But I was watching him. While I crossed the last open spaces between us, I had the feeling that I had done this before: walking towards a man who was shorter than me and had dark hair and smiling dark eyes. I remembered that long-ago dream. Then I heard the phrase "Oh, there you are!" in my mind just as I got close to Marco. I felt a jolt of electricity when he said hello. I looked in his eyes and I knew then that he was the man from my dream. I had found him at last! But would he recognize me?

He must have had some idea, because he managed to get my phone number that day and soon after that we had our first date: a seven-mile desert walk that gave me a blister and made me lose a toenail. But I didn't care about that, I would have walked around the world with him if he had asked me to. I still would.

Well, as they say, the rest was history. We were married on October 30, 2008. We spent our first two years of married life in that little Arizona border town, and Marco helped me break my three hour barrier. We walked out into the desert on wonderful expeditions where we saw a gila monster, a hidden lake, a dazed bunny that we carried with us one day, and once I saw three deer. Marco was facing the opposite direction, and I am not sure that he believed me, but they were there!

In 2010 we relocated to Mexico, living in what used to be Marco's grandmother's house. I came back twice a year to spend a week with my mother, but I hated leaving Mexico. I had discovered my soul's true home. Never in any place I have lived during my life did I feel as much at home as I do in Mexico. I want to say thank you to Marco for sharing his country with me, and for putting up with my endless questions about it: why is this, what is that, where did the other thing come from? I am so lucky that he is as curious about the world as I am. Otherwise I think he would have given up on me the way people do with small children who keep asking why why why.

Sometimes I think about all the trouble The Universe went through to get us together. We can look back on our lives and see our paths slowly getting closer together. If this hadn't happened in just this way, or if that hadn't happened just when it did, we would not be together. Isn't life amazing?! We just have to trust The Universe, to go we are expected to go and do what we are expected to do. And how do we know those things? Just listen. The Universe tells us where to walk, and we have to trust the path, even when it takes what might at first seem like a detour.

October 30, 2019 marks our 11th anniversary, except that since 2018 we have not been together in person. I have returned to Arizona for various reasons, the main one being to help my mother as she enters her 90's. Marco has stayed in Mexico to take care of the house and garden and to be close to his parents, who are in their 80's. But the relationship between the man of my dream and myself is stronger than ever now. We talk to each other every day, laugh just as much as we ever did, and we believe that this phase of our lives is just as magical as the others have been. We have made the decision to make it so. After all, we are simply following the road The Universe has shown us. We will always walk along that path with love and joy surrounding us. This makes our world a magical one, whether we are next to each other or thousands of miles apart.

Thank you for being the man you are, mi amor. And for helping me to remember to just keep walking.

By Marco Antonio Zapata Rosales

Our Photographic Memories Synthesize This Long Voyage.  
Through The Magical Universe That We Create.
We Nurture, Explore, And Conquer Day By Day,
With Fantasies, Dreams, And Projects.
We Assess Every Moment Of Our Existence.

There Is Not A Word That Encompasses To Thank You "Werita"
For This 11 Years Of Happiness That We Have Shared Together,
This Odyssey That Will Last At Least Another 50 Years.

Gracias "Werita"

Sincerely

“Piloncillo”

Y Vamos por Otros 50....