You never know when an acquaintance might grow into a friendship, a tiny seed that has the potential to sprout. Given the proper care and conditions, it might just bloom into a romance. And if you’re very lucky, it might even take root deep into the soil and evolve into a marriage and a family. Such care and conditions are a rarity, but when it all comes together, it’s a story worth sharing and treasuring.
Sjorensly and Glenda’s relationship begins with one such story – a mutual interest, a casual encounter and a spark; a recognition of kindred spirits. The couple is now a burgeoning family, with smiles that reflect the care and conditions that still nourish their love.
It all started when a mutual friend, DJ Spy, started an online chat room. On New Year's Day 2002, Spy decided to have an online party. Glenda, being friends with Spy from high school, took it upon herself to play the role of hype-man for the party, which basically meant she tried her best to keep the chats going in the room.
By the end of the party, there were approximately five people left in the chat, Spy, Glenda, Sjorensly, and two others, who interestingly became a couple for a while – quite a chat room! By this time, Sjorensly was so impressed with the awesomeness of Glenda (their word!) that he asked her if they could chat outside of the internet. She agreed and so began their friendship. The fragile seed was planted.
Sjorensly eventually came down to St. Maarten on vacation and it was on this vacation that they met in person for the first time. One day while on Mullet Bay Beach, Glenda spotted him sitting among his friends as she walked back towards her dad's bar. Not sure if it was really he, she watched closely and eventually walked towards him and introduced herself. They met a few times after that encounter and shared a few phone calls. The seed was sprouting.
They both found each other easy to talk to, which explains why they talked nearly every day throughout the early days of their friendship. It took almost 10 years of friendship and persistence for Glenda to see what Sjorensly knew all along. She saw the potential of someone who would be there for her, someone with whom she could share her life. The flower was beginning to bloom.
Then on January 27, 2015, during a trip to Curaçao to celebrate Sjorensly's grandmother's 70th birthday, they decided to take a leap of faith and see what happened next. Glenda knew Sjorensly was planning to propose, but she didn’t know that he had already spoken to her parents, his parents, and pretty much all the friends they usually hung around with about his plan to propose while they were in Curaçao.
On the night of his grandmother's birthday party, Sjorensly proclaimed, "I know what I'm going to give Grandma for her birthday." Then he disappeared. When he returned, he took the stage with his grandmother to make a speech and present her with a gift. Wanting to capture the moment, Glenda was standing in front of the stage to take pictures.
Sjorensly begins his speech, “I'm going to speak English so my girlfriend can understand.” Then he proceeded to tell his grandmother how he intends to contribute to the growth of the family. At this point, Glenda is totally confused wondering how exactly he is planning to grow the family. It all makes sense when he calls her up to the stage with them and there in front of his entire family gets down on one knee and asks her to be his wife.
One year and seven months later, the flower was in full bloom. On Mullet Bay Beach, Sjorensly and Glenda became husband and wife in front of family, friends and the most important guest of all – their unborn daughter.
