Óscar Turns 30!!

  Óscar Jesús Bello Goya is a man of very few possessions. After all, in January 2024, he picked up everything that he owned and put it in two suitcases to come to America to be with his love, Phoebe. After a courthouse wedding within days of his arrival (by his fiancée visa, they had to get married within 90 days of his final arrival here) he and Phoebe have been living together in the USA for over a year. He's got his green card and a job, too! He's learning to use all kinds of electric tools. He's learned to drive (there was no need to on the island; he biked to work); gotten his driver's license; he's gotten so much practice on English and is getting so good!

He's also learning to survive an Indiana winter, and as NO FUN as it's been in Ohio, it's been worse there. Brrrrr!! 

I’ve been observing this charming and unusual man since early 2019, and I can say that they broke the mold when they made Óscar. The one thing he loves most besides Phoebe, his family and friends and the ocean is... food. Ohh yes. It's food. He definitely came to the right wife and mother-in-law.

 And that food must be swimming in olive oil (note bottle on table by his place!) Really, really good olive oil. It goes on everything. Sometimes even on dessert...I’ve seen him buy cases of EVOO from Lebanon, and cases from Spain. Wherever we travel, if there’s an olive oil store, he’s going from tap to tap, holding up the cup, squinting at the color and cloudiness, tossing it back, a thoughtful look on his face. To say he’s a connoisseur is putting it mildly. He’s got particular tastes, and not just any oil will do. He's a purist.

 My sister-in-law, Jade, had a fabulous idea for the Thompsons to pool our funds and get him a gift certificate to OliveOilLovers. com. We each threw in $50 and this is what happened. (Some of these he already had; he's just gloating over the spoils of all the oil he owns).

photo by Phoebe

Phoebe said he was like a kid on Christmas morning. Pretty adorable. This made him so happy. I’d say we created a monster, but he was already a Cookie Monster for food and olive oil. A very handsome one, but definitely a monster. There’s no going back now. The olive oil genie is out of the bottle, and he’s not going to fit back inside.

Photo by Phoebe

 Judging from his buttery skin and that thick, shiny auburn hair that seems to grow an inch a week, I think he’s onto something. I couldn’t eat that much olive oil in a sitting. I couldn’t eat that much in a year. I’ll just be over here quietly drying up and blowing away. But I would like to see if I can help keep him in EVOO for awhile. 

 Oscar turns 30 on Saturday, February 22, 2025. UPDATE: Here, around 7 pm on Feb. 19, I posted solicitation for anyone who felt like contributing to send a small gift via my blog donation button or a direct link. SOME PEOPLE didn't follow the DIRECTIONS and they were FAR too generous. Everyone was! This boy is SET for olive oil for quite some time to come! It's now 11 AM Feb. 20 and with a sheepish laugh I'm pulling the plug on this spur of the moment "campaign." Man. The power of a guapito reclining before an array of bottles, and the power of a long-distance love story for the ages...

Obviously. many of you lovely people wanted to help keep our Oscie in olive oil! (Who wouldn't?) Here's a heartfelt THANK YOU from his doting mother-in-law. He is still in the dark about this; after all, it's not his birthday yet. But you have a treat coming. When Phoebe tells him, she's going to have her iPhone at the ready for his reaction. Stay tuned!  I, for one, cannot wait!

I call this the Burt Reynolds shot. Minus the bearskin. Photo by Phoebe.

It’s a “Welcome to America, happy 30th birthday, congratulations on your wedding, and we’re so glad you’re here!” for one very deserving, occasionally homesick, and freezing cold Spanish lifeguard. I know that nothing could make him happier! 

**I am being very sneaky about this. I put a teaser on Facebook, using the feature whereby you can block a certain person from seeing your post. I'm not putting it on Instagram, because he would see it right away. And he doesn't visit my blog because it's too difficult to read just yet. So if this works, it will surprise the heck out of the dear boy, and delight him beyond telling. I loove a surprise! Thank you so much! Y'all are absolutely the BEST!