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Joy

Why this husband buying Taco Bell for wife's 10th anniversary was actually a romantic home run

His choice literally left people in tears (the good kind)

@ashleyolsonphoto/Instagram

This is what love looks like.

When it comes to love, thoughtfulness is a far more important ingredient than spending lots of money. Sometimes having a nice bubble bath drawn for you at home feels just as lavish as any spa date. Sometimes when your partner says “I picked up this one special snack for you cause I know it’s your favorite” feels just as special as a fancy meal out.

There’s something just so personal about these moments, and that’s what makes them magical.

And it was this kind of moment recently shared between a husband and a wife on their 10 year anniversary, which they chose to celebrate with Taco Bell.

Turns out, there’s a very sweet story behind this unexpected meal choice.

In a reel posted to her Instagram, Ashley Olson shared that in April 2014, she and her now husband Willie got married at a courthouse at 23 and 25 years old.

It had been raining on their drive home, so “naturally” they drove through Taco Bell. Once back at the “cheap lil motel” they were staying at, they fashioned a table out of the room’s ironing board, and thus, their first meal as husband and wife was had.

Flash forward to their 10th year anniversary, which happened to fall on their kid’s spring break. The family had enjoyed a big trip to Europe the previous year, so nothing was really planned for the milestone. Or so Ashley thought.

Ashley had taken the kids to her parents to stay for their break, while Willie stayed home. After putting the kids down for the night, she noticed lights flickering out on her parents pier and went to check it out.

That's when she saw an ironing board, covered in candles, and Willie (who had driven over five hours to get there) with a bag of their favorite Taco Bell items.

“We laughed, cried, ate our food, drank cider, and danced to our wedding song at the end of my parent’s pier,” Ashley recalled, adding, “10 years + 2 kids later this man still pursues me, still dates me, and still surprises me.”

Ashley wasn’t the only one moved by her husband’s sweet gesture.

“Not me shouting ‘THE IRONING BOARDDD’ 😭😭😭😭 my heart cannot with this,” one person wrote, while another said “Not me sobbing over Taco Bell 🤧”

Still another commented, “Well…this guy is forcing the rest of us to up our game!! 😂”

A few had their own similar simple, yet poignant love stories…involving fast food. One person said, “My marriage has started of similar too, but it was us eating Chick-fil-A in the car with our witnesses. I love my wife so much more than a grand wedding. She’s my world.”

A few others noted how this way of celebrating seemed more attractive than other more traditional (i.e. expensive) approaches.

“Crazy how this marriage outlasts a lot of couples who had big beautiful extravagant weddings just for them to divorce a few years later. 🤣🤣👏🏼👏🏼 good for you two 🖤,” one person said, perhaps citing a study from 2014 that did indicate that people who splurge on wedding were more likely to divorce.

Another reflected, “I understand when people get married for logical, and financial reasons. But if I ever get married, this is what I want my marriage to be based on. Love, pure joy of being around your partner. Seeing their face and having a reason to smile. That natural, genuine love.”

There can be so many unspoken expectations in relationships, but at the end of the day—as long as you're celebrating the love you have for one another in the way you both want, that’s what ultimately matters.

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I Lived Mas at The Taco Bell Hotel

Today, I'm a 35-year-old man with a flame shaved into my beard. If the '80s movies I love so much are any indication, this is a sure sign I'm going through some kind of existential crisis. Next week, when the semester starts and I begin teaching again, it will not be strange if my colleagues start to worry about me just a little. A sports car or a neck-jerking pivot to physical fitness — that's an understandable response to the realization that life is fleeting. But a large meticulous flame carved out of facial hair? What does one do with that?

At this moment, though, I'm showing my face proudly to a woman wearing a swimsuit with a taco cat on it. We have only recently met, but she's telling me that she's so into my "fade" that she wants to kiss it. Then she does, blowing a raspberry into my cheek so hard that her hat falls off. Neither of us can stop laughing.

"Live Mas!" she yells with the excitement of someone who's never had trouble fully seizing the moment.

"Live Mas!" I shout back without any irony. There is no irony here in Palm Springs, where, for four days only, hundreds of people celebrate their love for Taco Bell.

Here, there's only swimming and hot sauce-themed leisure wear, and the warm pleasant feeling that comes from eating too much and knowing that you're with your own people. Even if the only thing that connects you is a love for a fast food giant that feeds you when you're hammered and shameless at 2 a.m.

We drank the Baja Blast! My Taco Bell fade and my friend's specialty manicure!Mark Shrayber

What does it mean to Live Mas? This is a question I am forced to ask myself over and over during my 24-hour stay at "The Bell," where I have stowed away as a friend's plus-one. We are, of course, both politely pretending that I'm a full-on guest with all the perks that entails, but we also both know that I wouldn't be here eating unlimited quesadillas poolside without her.

So maybe that's the first thing Live Mas means: To build strong lifelong connections which you can, with some luck, exploit to your benefit. :) :) :)

But this is too cynical an interpretation, because everyone here is so happy. Happy that they've gotten a reservation; happy that they can cool off in a room themed after an iconic Mountain Dew Drink, and happy that they can share their own personal story of what Taco Bell means to them. (Though there's no formal essay contest — I've checked.)

Me: This room won't be that cool. Also me: OH MY GOD, THIS IS THE COOLEST ROOM I'VE EVER BEEN IN!!!Mark Shrayber

Snatches of this story float around the "Fire" pool, where all the entertainment is concentrated: One couple canceled their trip to Prague because "Prague will always be there" — a brave stance considering climate change; another met last year on Tinder after the girlfriend's Taco Bell senior photos went viral; at the opening ceremony on Thursday, where sauce packets were cut instead of a ribbon, a city official brought others to tears with both her Taco Bell fashion and a memory of how her parents would feed an entire family with 19-cent-tacos from the first-ever Taco Bell in Downey, California.

Oh, I forgot one: The guy who skipped out on Prague? He got a giant bell shaved into the side of his head, so he might have to miss out on a black-tie event happening later this week. But it's all good. Bring on the nacho fries.

I make fast friends with four women who are here for a bachelorette party, the bride overwhelmed with good vibes and prosecco. This year, for her 30th, she rented a party bus. Inside? $100 worth of Taco Bell that her fiancee was worried might not be consumed.

"But little did he know," she shouts in the hot tub where we're "cooling off" after a long day of 108-degree sunning, "we ate it all!"

A bachelorette party and a birthday! We're really living it up (but also staying hydrated.)Mark Shrayber

Others whoop it up at the twist, but we all get it. Though there's no essay contest, I don't mind telling you that when my first boyfriend dumped me 14 years ago, I stuffed my face with chalupas. When I lost a job I really loved four years ago, I once ordered so much Taco Bell that the delivery app of my choice informed me I'd exceeded the maximum number of items they could comfortably fill in one order. We get it — though none of us can truly explain it.

There are, if you look at the The Bell from a literary perspective, many other writers who deserve this experience more than me. They could talk about the blue of the pool. Or the insouciance of youth. Draw parallels between marketing stunts such as this and the end-stage capitalism. Or envision a "Demolition Man" future where Taco Bell is fine dining and none of us know how to use the three shells in the bathroom to get ourselves clean.

And I wish these writers could be here to paint you these landscapes, but what you've got is me, a literal Taco Bell super-fan, and what I'm doing is eating and getting sunburned and taking a synchronized swimming class with the Aqualillies, who refer to themselves as "the world's most glamorous water ballet entertainment," but have very little idea of what to do with 10 eager recruits who can't stay afloat or on beat.


G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S!!Photo courtesy of Taco Bell.

"It's okay," one of the instructors comforts me just before the Tacolilies (the name of our "team") are invited to perform our watery version of "Senorita" — which was supposed to be two minutes long, then 1:15, and has now been judiciously cut down, due to talent, to about 45 seconds — in the bigger pool. "We regularly teach five-year-olds. And you're doing much better."

Usually, I would take offense at such blatant reads, but today I'm unbothered. I'll continue to be so right until I get home and discover that I've left all my electronics on United Flight 5223 (if anyone wants to get them back to me). And even then, I rage at myself for all of five seconds before checking that I've still got what's important: A certificate that says I did not drown while doing water ballet.

It's still there. As is my phone, which is blowing up with messages from people who took pictures of me in what Taco Bell calls its "power suit," and which is best described as "cult outfit, but kinda make it fashion." I bought my husband one, too, and I look forward to the argument we're going to have about holiday cards later.

This is "Live Mas."

I've never been so happy to match with someone else in my life. MaMark Shrayber

Or maybe it's the moment another stranger tells me that we'll be friends forever. Such friendships are forged quickly when you've got less than 24 hours to make lifelong connections and I'm pleased to get the full experience.

"We may never meet again," he says while we're swimming, "but we'll always have this time together."

Then we establish that he lives just across the park from me in San Francisco.

"Aw, man," he says, floating away to take pictures of the people he came with, "I've got lots of close friends I never see because they live across that damn park."

But the sentiment holds.

We Live Mas it on.

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A college student wants to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time.

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For most people, addressing climate change can feel hopeless. It's too big, too complex, and relies on too many moving parts.

But one teen is undaunted. When he looks at climate change, he sees an opportunity. This is his story.

Saving the world isn't easy, but this teen may be able to do just that.

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Manny grew up in Miami, the son of Cuban immigrants who wanted to give their family the best chance at life.

From an early age, they let him know that he was capable of anything he set his mind to as long as he worked hard and devoted himself to his goals.

He took their lesson to heart.

Manny is determined to do something many of us find it easier to ignore: He wants to combat climate change.

Most of his peers agree that many of the effects of climate change can be averted.

But he's one of the few who is ready to devote his life to tackling the challenge.

He says, "environmental science is the science of the future" because he truly believes that we're capable of making a difference now before it's too late.

He knows the road isn't going to be easy. But he feels a strong sense of urgency.

"Is saving the world easy? It's kind of not. But it's a small price to pay to hopefully make a really big difference for everyone."

With the help of the Live Más scholarship from Taco Bell, Manny now attends MIT, and his continued success will benefit us all. Students like Manny are literally our future. They're capable of changing the world when we give them the support they need to realize their dreams.

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Despite the odds, one young writer is passionately chasing his literary dreams.

'I want to become a published author. And there’s nothing that’s going to stop me.'

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Do you know what it’s like to have a dream that you’ll stop at nothing to achieve?

Justin Susan does.

When Justin first read a book that transported him to another world, he knew he wanted to re-create that magical feeling for others just like him.

"I want to become a published author. And there’s nothing that’s going to stop me."

‌All images via Taco Bell.‌

Since then, he's been working relentlessly to make his literary dreams a reality, one chapter at a time.

"When I feel like I'm going to stop, I think about if J.K. Rowling would've stopped," he says with a quiet confidence. "If John Green, Steven Spielberg — all these great people — if they would've stopped. It just keeps me going."

The odds, though, haven't often been in Justin's favor.

When Justin was in the eighth grade, he was reading and writing at a fifth-grade level.

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Despite multiple attempts throughout high school, not once was Justin accepted into a college preparatory program. Justin is from the White Mountain Apache reservation, and organizations like College Horizons have reported the high school graduation rate for Native Americans is about half. And of that half, only 5% immediately go on to four-year colleges.

But Justin knows what it will take and is determined.

He wakes up around 5:30 a.m. to get his mind going and his blood flowing — a habit of some of the world's most successful people. For him, something as simple as a morning walk can make all the difference when it comes to tackling the day ahead.

The most inspiring part, however, is what drives him every single day.

"I want to work hard for it. And not only for, you know, the fame or any of that. I’m doing it out there for the simple inspiration for another kid out there just like me, who may not have the right path in life. And hopefully, my characters, my words, can help them just get a little closer to that right direction. And that is the biggest reason why I do it."

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It's no wonder Justin stood out from the crowd and was eventually awarded the Live Más Scholarship from Taco Bell.

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"Hope ... it gave me hope that my dreams are possible."

Those were Justin's words when he first found out he had won.

You see, Taco Bell is celebrating our young innovators, creators, and dreamers — the next generation of students whose skills go beyond the usual athletics and academics. Despite the challenges of the path ahead, these young men and women aren't afraid to dream big and do what they love. They're going after what they want in life and are doing it with determination and truckloads of heart.

Watch Justin talk about his inspirational journey:

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