I came to New York in August 1998, for graduate studies at the University at Stony Brook. I met Ody through some of my friends at school, at the time she was also studying here. We got acquainted as friends, and met occasionally with the gang, for drinks at "the Bench" (the only known place for a drink and some music around the vicinity of the University). In the back of my mind I always wanted to be with a girl like crazy Ody. However, I always dismissed the thought of Ody herself, because she was already in another relationship for a long time. So I never confessed my attraction to her, and just moved on with my life... Until November 1999. After finding out from her ex housemate (Jessica) that she was single, I invited Ody for a Greek coffee and a walk at the beach. The unofficial "walk 'n coffee" date is a very well proven method in Cyprus...
   After that we've been through our ups and downs, like every couple in the world. However, the more we got to know each other, the more we couldn't do without. I think I got to find out what soul mates are. So, when our two years anniversary was coming closer, I decided to make it really special and memorable. Ody always had an obsession with lighthouses (if you ask her she'll tell you why), and I always wanted to spend a sunrise at the Montauk Lighthouse for the past 3 years. Everybody was telling how spectacular and fantastic it is, but I never got around to taking the trip. So, I booked a room at the Crow's nest, for November 14thwhich was our anniversary. When we got there, we spent our afternoon at Montauk village, but I convinced her about my sunrise story, so she agreed to wake up at 5am, so that we could go to the lighthouse on time. 
   Ody is not an easy person to wake up, and if you know her, you must also know all sorts of things I must have heard until she's up and ready :-) But it happened, so we drove to the lighthouse in the dark, and sat there in anticipation of the famous Montauk sunrise. The sunrise story provided a good cover to have the camera with me without raising any suspicion. The conversation was revolving around the fact that I never got around to take the Montauk trip for such a long time, when the first rays of light started reflecting on Long Island Sound. Ody was excited because it felt really special, and it would mark a nice memory for our two years anniversary. The little diamond ring was burning in my pocket, while I was playing with it. I told her "let's make it a little bit more special". So when the sun had risen, at 6:46am of November 15nth, I took the ring out and asked Odaly Annery Cruz, daughter of Menegildo Cruz Jaquez and Ramona Gutierrez de Cruz, princess of the Arawak tribe of the Dominican Republic to become my Queen and my wife. And she said...

   Well, now is my time to tell my side of the story.  We met in Stony Brook University, in Long Island, during the fall of 1998.  When I was introduced to him, we clicked immediately and I stared to teach him some bad words in Spanish, the funny thing is that he got the pronunciation down packed perfectly and to my surprise insisted on learning some new words every time we met with the gang. Since I was already involved romantically with someone else, I thought that Fytos interest was only in the language. All the time and effort he put into, never arose the slightest suspicion on my part, so we keep hanging out.
   All the time cooking Latin food for the gang or mixing drinks at my dorm for the whole floor. I’m a sort of a chef wannabe, so it was really cool to get all those compliments from Fytos. I remember once after one of those meals, Fytos went and got roses for my roommates and me. The funny thing is that mine was a different color than theirs! I also remember all the guys giving him a hard time about it, and he took it like a man, very honorable to me. 
   Well on the summer of 99’ I was for the first time in few years single once again and my former Roommate Jessica called me immediately to tell me to guess who had a crush on me. I was not in the mood to talk about love or any type of relationship, so I played cool and didn’t ask her to tell me. She did any ways, and told me that it was Fytos.  I could not believe it, my sweet fytos liked me, whoa!  So Jessica asked me if she could give him my digits and I said ok, but not giving much thought about it. 
   After I finished pledging for a sorority, during November, I finally decided to visit Stony Brook. There could be no communication during the pledging process, so I could only call Fytos after all that time. We spoke for an hour and I felt so good that next day I came to Stony Brook form New York, where I was living at the time. I spent some time with the gang and him. It just so happened that we were left alone for some time, so by the 14nth of November ’99 we ended up being an item… with these being the most exciting and romantic few years of my life. 
   We are so compatible, Fytos is the most generous and compassionate human being I ever met, he is smart and sexy, all in one packaged.  He is the person I always dream about it, he understands and accepted me as I am, his crazy Ody.
   On November 14 2001 the day of our second anniversary I was working late. He picked me up from work and brought me home to pick up my stuff because we where going on a surprise long trip.  Mind you I was just exited to go away for few days so I didn’t care about the destination.  For those of you that know Fytos, you know he’ll be getting lost all the time. This day suddenly he became the perfect navigator and was also very mysterious, but I thought nothing of it, since I really needed the vacation.
   In the middle of the trip he couldn’t take the pressure any more, so he confessed the destination, and gave me his sad “sunrise story”….  I bought it!  I was so happy to go the lighthouse that I didn’t suspect anything at all.  When we got to Crows Nest (a nice resort near the lighthouse) it was early so he took me to buy some groceries for the morning. Vanilla cappuccino, fruits, gourmet cheeses and crackers should be able to keep me breathing on an empty stomach at 5 in the morning. After the grocery shopping he took me out for dinner at a very fancy seafood restaurant in Montauk Village, to celebrate our 2 years anniversary. Next morning even though I was really tired, I managed to wake up with my usual crankiness, of course.  When we got to the lighthouse I was mesmerized by it’s beauty. I told Fytos how perfect everything looked; the color on the sky, the wave sound. I immediately started taking pictures with our digital camera. At 6:46am the sun had just risen from the water and it looked really spectacular. In the background I heard Fytos telling me how perfect this was, but he wanted to make even more special to us by giving me this sunrise as a new beginning, where we can start our lives together as one. He asked me to be his wife. I answered him in his language “Ne” which means…

Yes! So the sunrise of November 15nth, 2001 became our sunrise. The unique colors of that particular moment became our colors, and this picture now marks the down of our new beginning. Since then, we've been planning our wedding at the Montauk Lighthouse, to give this special location another meaning. We are looking forward to browsing this page after many years, sitting in our double love seat, drinking Greek coffee with Dominican green mentas after a long walk at the beach near our beach house...

We hope we are giving you a good reason to take the trip to the Montauk Point Lighthouse. We'd like to share with you, the sunset of August 31st, 2002. Our first sunset as husband and wife...