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The Transaction: A tale of pizza and love

Marcos Menendez tells a story about a pizza purchase, a delivery boy, and love.

A customer walks in to a Pizza Hut restaurant during lunchtime on April 19, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
A customer walks in to a Pizza Hut restaurant during lunchtime on April 19, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Marketplace listener Marcos Menendez shares a story that involves a pizza purchase, a delivery boy, and love.

Back in 1997, Menendez delivered pizzas for Pizza Hut in El Paso, Texas while attending college.

On an ordinary Friday night, Menendez was wrapping up his shift. His final delivery was at a house on the west side of the city. When he arrived and rang the doorbell, the door opened and a 7-year-old kid grabbed the pizza and ran. Menendez heard laughter and looked up to see a young woman. When she turned to greet him, time stopped.

Stunned by her beauty and smile, Menendez was speechless. He accepted the money for the pizza, and placed the cash in his stylish Pizza Hut fanny pack, attached to his stylish Pizza Hut uniform.

Menendez turned, and walked back to his 1985 Honda CRX and thought, “Man, I wish I had a girlfriend like her.”

Marcos and Maru Menendez

Courtesy: Marcos and Maru Menendez

Two weeks later, Menendez’s boss at Pizza Hut was getting married. His fiancé invited Menendez to the wedding, saying “There’s a friend, her name is Maru, you delivered a pizza to her home and she wants to meet you.”

So, Menendez went to the wedding and was formally introduced to Maru, the beautiful young woman he first met delivering a pizza on that ordinary Friday night.

Marcos and Maru  have been married for 15 years. They live in Miami, Florida and have two kids.

Menendez says “In this life, there are no coincidences, just related transactions.”

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