Love and Marriage

BY TINA HENNIGAR
Blair Hodges of Chester met and fell in love with Monica Lama at the beach home of their mutual friends while vacationing in El Salvador. It was 2006 and while neither was looking for a relationship, they couldn’t deny their connection from the first moment they met. They stayed in touch, emailing back and forth
when Blair returned home to Nova Scotia af ter his vacation. They continued their relationship over the next number of years, Blair visiting Monica and her family many times, and everyone growing fond of each other. Blair’s children traveled to El Salvador to meet Monica. It was a gr eat match all ar ound. Monica and Blair got married in 2011 and now live in Chester.
“Finding Monica and marrying her was the best thing I’ve done and worth all the difficulty that it took to bring her here,” Blair said of the years of paperwork. Together they are a team and look after Blair’s 90 year old mother. Blair said, “it’s not for the faint of heart. You have to really love each other. These marriages don’t last if you’re not compatible and don’t give the relationship the proper amount of time and effort to get to know each other, and if at all possible, in each other’s environment. It can feel like a constant holiday if you don’t live ‘real life’ together”.
“Monica’s English is excellent, but even so, it’s easy for people who don’t speak English as their first language to misinterpret words. English is a difficult language to learn,” Blair said. “Words . can have more than one meaning. I’d encourage everyone to be patient with someone who is new to Canada.” Monica was visiting her family back in El Salvador when I interviewed Blair, but he wanted us all to know that, “Latin people are very warm and friendly,” he said of his wife. “I’d really encourage everyone to get to know her. She’s added so much to my life,” Blair said. “We’re all really lucky she’s here.”