Sometimes love begins in the unlikeliest of places.
“She was working as a security guard in a domestic-violence homeless shelter. I was a tenant there,” says Norma Virola, 36, an administrative assistant and billings clerk at an electrical-supply house. “We started out as friends.”
“It was kind of hard,” adds Crystal Gonzalez, 26. “I wasn’t supposed to be fraternizing. I actually got fired for that.” (Gonalez now works at Polito’s Barber Shop in Queens.)
Initially, Gonzalez didn’t even know Virola was a lesbian. But Virola was determined to get her attention without spelling it out for her, so she went to the mall and bought a belt with a rainbow flag on it, then paraded around in it before the woman she was pursuing.
“It worked,” says Virola. “Ever since that first date, we’ve never been apart. I’d given up on love, but she showed me different.”
Gonzalez even took on the responsibilities of being a co-parent to Virola’s four children from her previous marriage. The kids will all be part of the ceremony on Sunday.
“My oldest daughter’s going to be my maid of honor,” Virola says. “My youngest will be blowing bubbles instead of tossing rose petals. My middle daughter will be walking in with Crystal’s brother, and my son’s going to be walking me in.”
The wedding party will have to wait until the end of August. “We couldn’t get a hall so quick,” Virola says with a shrug, adding that it doesn’t really matter. "We’re getting married in New York City,” she says. “We can’t wait for Sunday to come.”
--JB
