The story's roots go back about 2 and 1/2 years. Todd was on a business trip in Caracas, Venezuela working for a cable company, SuperCable. He noticed a very quiet girl sitting a couple of desks down from where he was sitting. While his friends were pointing out many other beautiful women around the office, he said "...now, that one....she's my type...". The girl? Sandy Fernández.

In the meantime, Sandy would catch him (from time to time) looking in her direction from the corner of his eye. "Cute guy", she thought, but, "he seems shy...there's never a 'good morning' or 'good afternoon' from him...".

Todd finally convinced one of the people he was working with to invite her to a party the day before returning to the States. Between dinner and dancing at Mike's house, they finally met, but no romance was to be had...this time.

The plot thickens....

Our story continues a little later that year. SuperCable had been experiencing some problems that demanded Todd's presence to fix. This was supposed to be a quick little trip...2 days to fix a problem, then back to the US. As fate would have it, the problem was fixed in about 2 hours, but Todd was unable to return to the US: Severe landslides had closed the only road to the airport in LaGuaira. Venezuela was inundated by floods and landslides and it was about 3 weeks before he was able to return to the US.

Of course, he did not spend his time idle. During this time he got to know Sandy and this time...this time there was definitely romance involved. What was a tragedy for the country of Venezuela turned out to be a blessing for Todd and Sandy. While the airport was closed, other parts of the country remained open and Todd and Sandy spent the three weeks growing closer together.

They visited with friends, ate out, spent a lot of time chatting, and drove around Caracas both sightseeing and surveying the damage done by nature. They even visited an emergency relief center together and donated supplies for the homeless (boy, there went their good deed for that year)!

The time came when Todd was able to book a flight out of Venezuela (just a few days before the millenium). As they waved "goodbye" to each other at the airport, Sandy couldn't help thinking: "Is this it...could this be it?". "...this feels so right...".

After the first leg of his trip, from the island of Curaçao, Todd sent and e-mail from an internet café to his friends,co-workers, and family to let them know he had gotten safely out of the country. In writing this e-mail, he made the statement to his friends: "I have found the girl I am going to marry". Of course, Sandy didn't have a clue at this point.

The first step...

After a few more trips to Venezuela for business (some people actually suspected him of dialing into SuperCable to "manufacture" problems so he would have an excuse for going there - not true, of course), and endless hours of Internet Chat with Sandy, Todd realized that he needed to have Sandy visit him in California. If she liked it, well...they just might need to get married!

Sandy was sure of her feelings for Todd long before her visit, although the thought of leaving her friends, family and job haunted her from time to time. Sandy visited California for the first time in July of 2000 and she loved it. They decided then to move in together. Since then, they have had many adventures together. They went to the UK for vacation together, staying with friends and visitng Scotland. They explored much of Northern California including Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Sonoma/Napa Valley and San Francisco. They hiked along the American River trail in Sacramento. They started Sea Kayaking in San Francisco Bay, Lake Natoma and Lake Tahoe.

Finally...a Wedding!

When Todd's parents journeyed west for a visit in September of last year, they too fell in love with Sandy. So...preperations were made and events set in motion. Events that will culminate in their marriage on the last Sunday in September. They are looking forward to sharing the experience with all of you