The last week of Sept. 1977 would change our lives forever. Becky had arrived only a few days before that fateful day. (Rebeca Olivia Desme was the foreign exchange student our senior year at Elizabethtown High School, from Lima Peru, S.A.)Why had Lanz wanted to go to where they were building the senior class high school float? Or, was it me? Who knows, after so many years but I’ll blame him. Steve picked me up and I think we were using his brother, John’s car. We had parked in the back parking lot of the old Elizabethtown Catholic High School. I don’t even think we hiked the forty yards to the garage where the float was being built. I don’t think we were really looking for work. Just doing our duty of showing up and doing what we did really well back then. A little partying, a little hanging out, just being us. It was dusk and out of nowhere came this absolutely gorgeous Spanish looking girl with Jana. Blew us away! Lanz tried his Spanish and said, “Buenos Dias” and she quickly corrected him say, “no, Buenos Tardes.” Lanz didn’t know what to say. But, it was funny. They moved on, but that day will be forever one of the most important days in our life.
I would check out Becky every chance I got at school. Homecoming was just around the corner and Kelly and I were going. One day during study hall I saw in the cafeteria Kelly and Becky sitting together. So, I sat and chatted, wanting Kelly to officially introduce Becky to me. I didn’t think I had made much of an impression the first time we met. Becky, I found out later was interested in knowing if Kelly had an older brother. I guess she too could see how beautiful Kelly was and just thought that, hey, maybe she had a brother. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Kelly and I went to the Homecoming dance and that was about it. As, shortly after that I had called Jana to ask Becky if we could go out. Since Becky’s English wasn’t real good and my Spanish was non-existent. I’ll be always indebted to Jana because she gave me a thumbs up. So, around late October, Becky and I went out for the first time.
On our first date we went to the Pizza Hut and then just drove around. We got pulled over by the cops for racing PJ and getting a couple of beers from Mark, then we went parking out in the country to try and have a conversation with a Spanish/English dictionary. How I survived that first night is beyond me. My blue eyes were worth more than I had thought. Because I had asked her out before dropping her off. She said yes, or so I had thought. Later, I had to call Jana to make sure she understood me when I asked her out. And, so it began.
Towards the end of our senior year we started talking about marriage. It was a constant on again off again conversation. Once we began to be really serious, her host family became very uncomfortable. I guess their thought was that maybe there was a surprise coming that they didn’t want to deal with. Looking back I really couldn’t blame them. So, she moved host families towards the end of the school year. This ended up being worse than we could have imagined! But, there were no surprises, I just created enemies where there needed to be none. A young cocky teenager doesn’t listen very well and a hard headed one even worse. We went to prom and then I started freaking out thinking she’d be going back to Peru soon.
We went a couple of weeks were we didn’t see each other. Then it kind of dawned on me that this was my mate and that if I wanted her something needed to be done.
In Jan the following year I arrived in Lima, Peru S.A. in anticipation of our wedding that we had decided on being Mach 3rd 1979. I wasn’t aware upon my arrival that she had yet to have this conversation with her parents. I guess she just wanted to make sure this little kid showed up. The rest of the wedding was planned by Becky and her mom. I was just having a good time and a very new experience in a new country and a totally new culture than the one I had know all my life.
We had a wonderful ceremony in the dark, as the terrorists had blown the power in the capital city of Lima. So, our reception was canceled and we rode around in a limo that eventually ended us at the Sheraton for our honeymoon’s first evening, the following day we were taken to the country club, “El, Bosque.”
From there our trials and tribulations began. Around the first of April I went back to Ky. to start working and making a living. The two governments could figure it out. She had signed an agreement that stated that she would stay in her country, The Foreign Exchange Program!
So, a year and some months later I saw my wife again. We both fought our governments and we did not win. So, our married life began. AGAIN!
After a getting to know each other phase, we decided to move to Lima, Peru where we lived for almost a year. Until………….
One day, I was at the pharmacy across the street and three guys came in and robbed the place with me inside. I was standing next to a little short woman and I could understand what she was saying. Then, I realized that she was praying. So, I thought to myself, they are going to see a gringo here and want to get on the news by killing me. I was raised in an environment where left our doors open at night. So, I was like….. It’s time to go home. So, back to the USA we went. After living with my sister for a while Becky and I became pregnant with our little princess Jacqueline. Becky and I went back to school at the University of Louisville.
After Jacqueline was born I interviewed with Wendy’s in Miami. Then along came Jon…. Our wonderful little boy came into this world in April 1984. A month later we moved to Miami. And, as they say the rest is history……………
Becky and I raised our children in a little community called Cutler Ridge. Then our lives changed! On Aug. 24, 1992 Hurricane Andrew came ashore and we took a direct hit of one of the most devastating hurricanes in the history of our nation. We lived in a trailer in the front yard for many months as we rebuilt our home. But, through it all we prevailed. Again and again!!!!!!!!
Now we are business partner as well as soul mates. Life is never easy, but as long as we have each other it is a whole lot easier.
Where do we go from here? Only God knows! But, what I do know is that if something ever happened to one of us, our lives would have been worth it because we have left a positive legacy on the earth. We will leave this world better than we found it because of Jon Carlos Nusz and Jacqueline Olivia Nusz.
John Nusz – March 20, 2010
