Our wedding date was in a month. We had been dating for about five years now. I remember the day I had first met her in June of 1947. Time had flown by very fast. It seemed like our first date had been yesterday, but I knew that it was five years ago today. We had been planning for our wedding for a couple of months now, and we knew what we wanted. It was going to be a very big wedding. Lots of beautiful pink roses in a big christian church. We had it all planned out, but Cuba was in chaos.

Jessica and I were getting ready for the day. It was a gorgeous day. Very warm and sunny. As I walked down the hallway to the kitchen I saw Jessica standing in the sunlight brushing her beautiful golden blond hair out of her pretty blue eyes. She kissed me and asked, “Did you get a call from Mike today?” Her soothing voice made me feel warm inside. Mike was the general of my unit in the military. “He hasn’t called me yet, but I’m expecting a call from him later today though.” I answered. The day was going to consist of organizing, and planning out our wedding out. We wanted to make our wedding perfect. As Jessica and I were out planning our wedding, one of our friends Jennifer asked us, “Did you see what happened on the news today about Castro?” Jessica and I both said, “No, what happened?” “Castro raided a barracks last night.” Jessica said. I wondered if it was my barracks. If it was I would have to go back into service to fight against Castro. Jessica and I had the same opinions on the revolution, but I was loyal to my country. I had been fighting for my country for what seemed like as decays, but was really only three years.

The next morning I got a call. I ran to Jessica and told her in a sad voice, “I got the call. I have to go into the service.” She hated that I was in the service because she was scared for me. “I’ll be alright.” I said. “Don’t worry about me.” I got prepared to go to the barracks.

At the barracks we got suited up, and prepared to fight for our country. Jessica and I sent letters back and forth everyday, telling each other how much we missed each other and how much we loved each other. Each day felt like it would never end. Being without Jessica was the worse thing I had been through. At the barracks, we kept a watch out all day and night for Castro and his soldiers. We patrolled the borders and made sure that he didn’t come back from Mexico. Later in the night we found Castro and his soldiers on the border. I shot at his soldiers taking two down. Him and some of his followers survived and ran in the mountains. We went back to the barracks for the night. Mike sent me home for a couple of nights to see Jessica. When I got home I found a letter on my bed saying that Jessica had left for America. When I read this I was crushed. I ran outside looking everywhere for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t stop reading the letter. Each time I read it I cried even more. She was making me choose between my country and her. I loved her very much, but I didn’t know what to do. If I stayed I’d be loyal to my country, but if I left I would be happy for the rest of my life. I wanted to go find her in America, but if I tried Cuba would try to capture me and arrest me for abandoning my country during a time in need. “What should I do?” I asked myself. Should I take the risk, or stay Cuba? I took the risk. But I never got to America. I’m in prison now and have been for twenty years. I was getting released today, and when I got released guess who I saw? I saw Jessica.