I married the boy I fell for on vacation in Mexico when I was 14 – a Facebook message brought us back together after 12 years apart

A woman has revealed how she ended up marrying her childhood sweetheart – 12 years after they first met in a hotel lobby in Mexico, aged just 14.

Monica Millington, 33, from Dallas, Texas, met her now husband Tom, 33, from Britain, when they were both enjoying family vacations in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, in 2005.

A romance soon developed between the pair, but after their respective journeys came to an end, things fizzled out and Monica even married another man.

Then a chance Facebook post from Tom reignited their relationship, and the pair now share how they reconnected and fell in love again, more than a decade after they first met.

The two first ran into each other in the lobby of the Playa Del Carmen hotel where their families were staying in 2005 – with Monica confessing that she ‘thought Tom was cute’ from the moment she saw him, feelings that only grew stronger as they heard his words. British accent.

She later approached him at the pool, where they immediately hit it off, and a holiday romance quickly developed between them for the rest of their week-long trip.

“I was young and looking for a boyfriend for the summer holidays, and there was a really cute guy in the hotel lobby,” she remembers.

‘I saw him at the pool, swam over and said it was nice to meet him.

“He came out with a British accent and I had never heard a British accent before.

“It was a pure holiday romance where we kissed and held hands.”

On the last day of the holiday, Monica and Tom exchanged numbers and stayed in touch for a while.

“Facebook became a thing the next year and we were able to keep in touch, but life goes on,” Monica said.

They moved away from each other to different universities on the other side of the world, started dating other people, and Monica eventually married her college sweetheart.

“I married my college sweetheart and we did the traditional thing: go to school, get married and buy a house,” she explained.

‘The first six months of our marriage were fine, but after those six months it got to the point where it felt wrong.

“Our marriage lasted two years (and) he was a really good guy. It just didn’t fit.’

Then on her 26th birthday in 2016, Monica received a message from Tom wishing her a happy birthday after 11 years without speaking properly.

The couple then FaceTimed Monica to share how her marriage ended.

“We were 15 minutes into our conversation and he said he was in love with me and he never fell in love with me, and I said I felt the same way,” she said.

‘As soon as I saw his face it felt familiar, the conversation felt like I was talking to my best friend. It wasn’t weird at all.

‘We FaceTimed for four hours. It was really wild. I say it was invisible string theory.

“I feel like I was connected to him my whole life, even though I hadn’t seen him in 11 years.”

Another serendipitous trip would see the pair reunited in London that same year – when Monica traveled to Britain for New Year’s Eve with her sister, Sophie Lake, 31, only to discover that Tom was also planning to to be in the city.

Determined to find out if their FaceTime chemistry translated into real life, they agreed to meet up.

Monica said: ‘We said we’d meet for lunch to see if we had a real connection, and it wasn’t just facetime stuff.

‘I went to lunch with Tom at noon and the lunch lasted seven hours.

‘It was in the beautiful little cafe. We talked at full speed for seven hours.

“We had so many important topics to cover, like what we want to do with our lives.

‘It was like a first date on steroids. I was so late to meet my sister.

“As we were leaving he stood up and kissed me and that was my ‘oh s***’ moment that sealed the deal.”

Four months later, Monica took a three-week solo trip to Asia, visiting Thailand and Bali, before spending a week in Hong Kong, where Tom was working at the time.

Monica said: ‘Everyone thought I was crazy because I had just gotten divorced.

‘I flew to Hong Kong, where Tom worked, and we hit it off. I was supposed to be there for a week and I stayed for a month.”

The day before Monica had to fly back to the US, they were eating at a ramen bar when Tom said he wasn’t worried about her leaving because he knew he would marry her one day.

Monica said: ‘He asked when we were getting married and I said I didn’t know, and he said he wanted to do it as soon as possible.

“I asked him if that meant we were engaged and he said, ‘Yes, we are engaged.’

“We called his parents and told them; they hadn’t seen me since Mexico 2005. They were absolutely thrilled.

‘I told my parents and they asked if this was a rebound or real. They were cautiously optimistic.

“As soon as I met him again, they fell in love with him.”

Monica and Tom will get married on October 28, 2017 in Singapore, with their mothers flying out to act as witnesses.

Monica said: ‘We booked a cute little hotel rooftop, our mums flew out to be our witnesses.

‘We drank champagne and danced. It was very intimate.

‘I can’t believe the 14-year-old boy I met on holiday in Mexico is now my husband.

‘It still overwhelms me, I’m so grateful for it. I’m so lucky that this will be my story.

‘I chose very well when I was 14 and I think because I chose such a great man, no one else could compare.

“I had love for my ex-husband, but now that I’ve met my current husband, I know what love should feel like and I felt that at 14.”

Tom said: ‘I was instantly hooked from the age of 14 when she came up to me and introduced herself with that Texan accent.

“At the time, she didn’t know I was trying to catch her from the moment I saw her on the first day, but there was no way I could have that confidence.

‘Although we lived on different continents and life took its natural course, the power of the connection that was once created has never gone away – honestly, it has grown instinctively over the years.

‘There was always a dream that we would find each other again. She is and will always be the love of my life and my best friend.’

In May 2022, Monica became pregnant with her first child and in January 2023 she gave birth to one-year-old Cruz Millington.

Monica said, “I feel lucky that this is our story.

‘We have a beautiful little boy, a spitting image of Tom.

‘Cruz is cheerful and playful. We are so lucky.’