To this day Gerber, my sweet-futbol-loving-husband, and I don’t agree on where our first date was. I say it was when he took me to Cafe Barista and we sat at a corner table, sipping our lattes, talking until we lost track of time. When we finished, he paid. Call me old fashioned, but that is what I call our first date.

He disagrees. He say’s it’s when he invited me to lunch at Rainbow Cafe. We ordered soup and grilled cheese and made small talk while we watched the Brasil game during the 2010 World Cup. Really, he watched and I wondered, why does that team have such ugly uniforms? We paid separately. The verdict is still out on what really counts as our first date.

But that was 4 years ago. A World Cup Ago.

A lot has changed since then. We’re married and have an adorable baby girl and I now know all the players on the Barcelona team. I knew while we were dating that my husband loved fútbol (aka soccer), but I didn’t really know how much. Or how much it would affect our life.

. . .

I now follow FC Barcelona on twitter so I can text Gerber updates of the game when he is working and isn’t able to watch it. And once, during a big Real Madrid vs. Barca came I turned the game on here on our home TV and connected our ipad so he could watch the game through Facetime. Yep, I’m a really good wife. Our daughter already has a Messi onsie (yes, they make those) and I have a feeling she will join team-Barca and become a soccer fan like her Daddy.

I have tried to hard to understand the different leagues. I keep waiting for their to be a “soccer-season” just like American football season starts in September and ends with the Super Bowl in February. But it seems like soccer is a year-around season. It’s not that I don’t like soccer…it’s just that I need a little more connection to the players, the people, the personal details! It’s why when we watch a game I ask, “What’s the name of Messi’s baby again?” and “Did you know Shakira and Pique are back together?” He often just mummers, “uhhuh.“

. . .

I may I may never love soccer, but I do love my husband a whole lot. And that is why when we were planning our honeymoon to Spain we decided to go to a Barca game at Camp Nou. Now, Gerber loves soccer. He would have been thrilled to go to any European soccer game. I mean the man knows European geography based on soccer teams. But, Barca is his team. He knows all of the stats and players and games and what they ate for breakfast. (ok, maybe not the last part). But he loves Barcelona and if you ask him he will give you the whole run-down about how they develop players and train them yadah-yadah.

So on our honeymoon, on our last night in Barcelona we went to Camp Nou. It was his first professional soccer game and mine. He was ecstatic. We could see Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Puyol, Villa, Valdes- all of them! (I bet you’re impressed…I didn’t even have to google those names! That’s what 3 years of marriage to a soccer fan will do for you They were all so close. Every time they scored a gooooool the whole stadium would start chanting some victory song in Catalan. It really was such a fun evening. And that is coming from the girl who still doesn’t know what off-sides is.

. . .

Fast forward a few weeks later and we’re back home in Guatemala. Still unpacking from our honeymoon and in the giddy state of newly-weddness, a friend was asking us about our trip and what was the best part?

Gerber’s response: the Barcelona game.

I playfully elbowed him in the ribs. The best part, huh?!

He looked at me. Confused. Yeah, the best part.

And THAT is our fútbol love story.

. . .

I’m linking up with my friend Sarah at A Life with Subtitles and her friend Katie. They shared their fútbol love stories here and are hosting a fun series for any World Cup Wives out there. You can sign up here.

Does your spouse have a sport or team that they follow and hence, you do now, too? Are you watching the World Cup this year?

Our Barca Baby….World Cup 2030?!!?