Gloria and Emilio Estefan

Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo, later known as the wonderful Gloria Estefan, was born in Havana, Cuba.

Her father, a former soldier in the Cuban Army and bodyguard to dictator, Fulgencio Batista, fled with his family to Miami following the Cuban Revolution.

While attending the University of Miami Gloria met and fell in love with Emilio Estefan, founder of the Miami Sound Machine, and the rest is musical history.

With, now, Gloria Estefan as the lead singer, the band went on to sell millions of albums. Gloria Estefan is also known for her courage and fortitude after a near fatal accident in which a truck demolished her tour bus during a snow storm.


A year after the accident, Estefan took the stage at the American Music award to a standing ovation.

And, of her marriage to Emilio, she says he was her first and last boyfriend. The couple remains happily married and live with their son and daughter in Miami Beach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Estefan#Marriage

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

 

In December of 1843, at the age of thirty, Charles Dickens was already a well known writer whose fame in Europe and North America drew huge crowds when he was booked for book tours. He was married to Catherine Hogarth and the Christmas season of 1843 had the young couple expecting their fifth child.

As with most of his characters, Dickens own life was a rags to riches success story, but this December found the family in desperate need for money. Catherine’s two younger sisters were living in the household along with Charles’ younger brother Frederick. Book sales had been brisk, but the profit margin smaller than expected. Dickens felt that his publisher was at fault for this lack of profit, and he determined to take matters in his own hands.

Charles Dickens wrote intensely for six weeks and produced “A Christmas Carol”

When it was finished in early December, and he had written “The End” in huge letters, underlined three times, Dickens decided to by pass his negligent publishing house and publish the book himself. 

Recognizing its potential value, he oversaw every aspect of its publication, and the final edition saw the book bound with gilt-edged pages, the title pages in a vibrant red and green, and four hand-colored etchings and wood cuts illustrating the now classic tale.

Just as he hoped, “A Christmas Carol”, released on December 19, 1843, sold out its first edition of 6,000 copies by Christmas Eve. Unfortunately The book sales barely covered the expense of publication, and the hoed for profit of 1,000 pounds, was reduced to a bare 200 pounds.

The gift Charles Dickens gave to future readers, though, is priceless. “A Christmas Carol” is considered on of the most influential pieces ever written, and has become a part of Christmas tradition.

So, as was said of Ebeneezer Scrooge, who finally found the true spirit of the holiday and,

“…that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge…

“May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”

 http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org

The Big Event

It would be remiss to have a collection of couples' “how we met” stories and ignore the big event of the day; the much anticipated Royal Wedding.  As I was reading about how Kate and William met, I decided to journey back in time and do a little research on the “how we met” stories of some of the Royal family.

Anyone who has seen The King’s Speech remembers Elizabeth joking to Bertie about refusing his first proposal. And, anyone who has seen the movie also knows that Prince Albert was a determined, young man, who decided that he would “marry no one else.” In February 1922, when Elizabeth was a bridesmaid at the wedding of  Albert's sister, Princess Mary, he decided to propose again. Once more, though, Elizabeth turned him down being “afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to.”

Bertie refused to admit defeat, and finally got lucky on his third try. The couple was married in Westminster Abbey on April 26,1923.

Elizabeth II met Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark several times while growing up. Apparently he made quite an impression, because she was in love with him by the age of thirteen and the two began exchanging letters. Interestingly enough, the match was filled with controversy. Philip was considered to be a foreigner and had sisters who had married German nobleman who were later suspected of having Nazi ties. The Queen Mother reportedly referred to Philip as “The Hun”. True love prevailed, however, and the couple married on November 20, 1947.  The wedding could take place only after Philip had renounced his Greek and Danish titles, had converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglican, and had taken on the surname of his mother’s British family becoming Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer had also known each other for many years before they became involved. Charles, under increasing pressure to marry, took a serious interest in Diana as a potential bride during the summer of 1980. They were both guests at a country weekend and she took the time to watch him play polo. They began dating and Diana was well received by all members of the Royal family. Charles and Diana were engaged in February 1981, and married on July 29, 1981. Diana had just turned twenty years old at the time of their marriage.

Prince William and Kate Middleton met at school. They were both students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland when they met in 2001. The relationship went through the usual ups and downs, mostly William not wanting to commit, and then realizing what he was throwing away. Fortunately for him, Kate was willing to try again. This time he took the step, proposed, and she accepted.

The result... the Royal Wedding on April 29, 2011...the birth of Prince George... and a new arrival on the way!
 I wish them well.