25 Random Things - The 'Love' Edition

25 Random Things - The Love Edition

1. I was born a hopeless romantic.

2. My 'love' career began in my head start program @ Aguadilla Day Care center on Willoughby Avenue and Throop Avenue in Bed Stuy, Bklyn. I always wanted to 'play' house AND no one else could ever be the daddy. (In case you are wondering, I have photographic memory)

3. My 'game' was tested in the school yard of Carter G. Woodson Public School 23 - where the sport of choice was 'boys catch the girls'. I caught my share!

4. Evelyn returned my first love note with a check in the 'No' box. It never happened again! =)

5. Oh boy! Should I keep going?

6. Middle School: We moved from Brooklyn to Queens and I was the new kid on block (Palmetto). My first day on the stoop, three girls from the block came over to say hello. I would never be the same!

7. I needed glasses (only for reading) - a girl in school told me I looked cute in glasses, so I wore them everyday. Thanks to her compliment, I'm forever dependent on wearing the frames.

8. When my sister got married, in my speech, I apologized for kissing her friend - all of them!

9. I hurt too many, made some cry, made promises I could not keep - not proud of this one!

10. I was introduced to Christ Tabernacle and Jesus Christ - the love of God for mankind and ME through the loving arms of his church. My life trajectory and understanding of love would be altered forever.

11. A suppressed crush in high school. I spent four years trying to live out the values of my new found love in Christ and the church.

12. NYU - a girl with an caring spirit and infectious smile. A great person and better friend.

13. I met Lisa on Valentines Weekend 1998 - 10 years ago this weekend.

14. Lisa's father died of a heart attack when she was 8, so I asked her mom and brother if I could have her?

15. I placed a parking ticket on her car with a note asking her to marry me? I was parked a few cars away and when she turned around I was on one knee in the middle of the street (surrounded by the concrete jungle in the burg). Thank God no cars were coming and that she said yes! We celebrated with dinner at Peter Luger's - she told me her mother's steak was better! =)

16. November 25, 2000 - Wedding Day was perfect! Honeymoon: Puerto Rico

17. Lisa got pregnant a month later (not planned but you'll appreciate the miracle. keep reading)

18. My love gave birth to my first born Aaron Christopher Castillo on September 17, 2001. (Had she not gotten pregnant, as a NYC Local 3 Electrician, Lisa would have been in the sub basements of Tower 2 on September 11 by 7:00AM - ALL of her co-workers died)

19. My love gave birth to my second born Corey Andrew Castillo on December 29, 2005.

20. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. I Corinthians 13 is my love compass!

21. Favorite Love songs include:
Kiss of Life (Sade)
Cherish The Day (Sade)
Sweetest Taboo (Sade)
When I Fall in Love (Celine Dion)
Crazy in Love (Beyonce & Jay Z)
Let's Stay Together (Al Green)
You Are the First, the Last, My everything (Barry White)
I'll Be There (Jackson 5)
Three Times a Lady (Commodores)
The First Time I ever saw your face (Roberta Flack)
I Need Love (LL Cool J)
I Want to Know Love is (Foreigner)
Roxanne (The Police)
Killing Me Softly (The Fugees)
No One (Alicia Keys)
Betcha By Golly Wow (Phyllis Hyman)
Just My Imagination (The Temptations)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (The Stylistics)
Ring My Bell (Anita Ward)
Sweet Love

22. Love Heroes: Jesus Christ, My Mom, Jaime A. Gonzalez, Michael & Maria Durso, Lisa Castillo and Bill Cosby

23. God so loved the world - my eternal passion.

24. How do kids spell love? T-I-M-E

25. I'm done!

LOP

Ralph