True Love! a little about our true story & Cocoa Cinnamon Valentine’s Day Chocolate Offerings!
1 Year, 8 months and two days ago, Areli and I fell in love. We had known each other for 6 years, yet it came completely out of nowhere. I believe one day in either direction, if it hadn’t happened at just that moment, in just the way it did, we would not now be married and in love.
Two simple text messages opened up a world of love and a dedicated marriage and partnership. For that I remain amazed every day and forever grateful.
After expressing feelings that came up in me because of a simple question from a friend, “Is there anyone down there that you want to see?” I stopped for 10 or so seconds on the phone, and then said, “I have never even thought this to myself…I don’t know what I’m going to say,” I started talking about Areli. Once I said the words, the feelings came up in me and took over.
Days later, I decided to express these feelings, telling her that I didn’t even know how I felt, but that I felt like I could love her. I most certainly surprised her, as much as I was still shocked by the realization of the feelings myself.
The place where I had planned to ask Areli to marry me in Stockholm's Archipelago. We had been married for one week already, as life made other plans for us (not pregnancy!).
A path, complex, yet amazingly simple, began. We had no intention to get married 4 days short of two months later, but that is exactly what we did. In a way, it happened to us. Friends said that there was something greater happening and that we felt magical together. We felt it too and over the next weeks, even with a tumultuous world around us, we felt like we were on a boat floating serenely down a river towards each other. Each moment, story and action led us closer together.
Since then, we have seen things that have confirmed again and again little signs that there is something that we don’t understand that makes us so in love.
Here’s one little example I found out well after we were married:
I made an artwork called The Umbrella.
Areli has images of umbrellas through her journals.
Both are significant to each of us in ways that when we saw the connection, felt uncanny.
Characters in a story I had been working on for years overlapped directly with ideas explored in Areli’s journals, almost sounding as if I had written them, or she had conceptualized mine. These connections are evidence of what led us to each other and keep leading us back as we live and create our lives together.
These are just a couple of coincidences. Maybe it is just a way of seeing, informed by the amazement and connection, that is love. I don’t know, but for whatever reason the signs show up again and again.
I am so not someone who normally believes in the idea of “meant to be.” Yet I am sure that there is something that I don’t understand, some kind of life poetry that has brought us together and feeds our love.
There is a lot more detail and complexity to our amazing story that I feel in my heart just as much as I did with Areli’s first reciprocation. Maybe one day that will be a little book, I think we’ll call Ti Amo. Maybe.
For now, we want to share some of the love that we channel into Cocoa Cinnamon! in the form of our chocolates. As we start up our shop, we are letting life lead us together. That feeling has done us well so far, and we feel the need to keep following.
Here is our special offering for Valentine’s Day.
Be happy in love. We hope we can add a little something special to it.
Click on the offerings image to make an order!
We are now taking pre-orders.
To Order -
1. Click the offerings image above and submit your order via our order form.
2. We’ll contact you regarding payment including shipping (if applicable).
3. Put in the order (by Monday, February 6th at 3PM in order to get them for pickup or shipping in time for Valentine’s Day).
4. Get your chocolates via arranged pickup at one of our bikeCOFFEE! setups in downtown Durham or via mail.
5. Indulge!
Please Note: We make holiday orders special. Any orders made after the deadline will be on an availability basis.
