Ten-year-old Roberto Celii was a boy on a mission. Nothing could keep him from tracking down the girl of his dreams - not even a kid at his doorstep carrying Ginsu knives.

Roberto had met his beloved only once, at her father's clothing store. He knew her last name was Rambo, so when the kid at the door selling the fancy utensils mentioned that his last name was Rambo, Roberto's ears perked up. "I felt they had to be related," he says, so he began bombarding the kid with questions.

"He kept telling me that he did not know them and to leave him alone," recalls Roberto, now 48. "He started running from me - he must have thought I was a psycho! That's when I realized I was being a little overzealous."

Growing up in Downingtown, Pa., Roberto and his brother used to go to a "hippie clothing store" called Wizard of Oz, he says. One day, he saw a little girl, about 7, modeling clothes. "She stood on an elevated surface and had long dark hair down to her belt, a cute little nose and piercing brown eyes," he says. "I was just starstruck by her for some reason. And being Italian, I tended to like girls earlier."

Gina, now 44, also remembers the day she met Roberto, because she thought the little blond-haired boy was cute. (But he didn't say much; he was so nervous that he let his brother speak for him.) "I vividly remember them," she says. "I remember my dad going to the basement to gather boxes, and as soon as Dad started coming up the stairs, they ran out the door."

When Roberto was a senior in high school, he went to church one day and met his pal Chad's new girlfriend. "I just said to myself, 'Boy, is she one pretty girl,' " he says, not connecting this grown-up beauty to his childhood crush. Soon, the two were hanging out in the same circle of friends. Gina and Chad, who dated through high school and college, eventually got engaged, but Gina had misgivings. "Growing up from seventh grade on, we became two different people," she says. Finally, they broke things off.

On New Year's Eve 1982, Roberto and Gina - both in their mid-20s - happened to see each other at the same party, held at a restaurant. Gina was still getting over her breakup, and Roberto decided that it was time for him to act. At midnight, Gina recalls: "He grabs me in the hallway and plants this long, passionate kiss on me. My eyes got as big as half-dollars. I was dumbfounded; just smiled and walked away." For the rest of the night, "We just kind of stood across the room, staring at each other, trying to figure out what that kiss meant."

Not long after the party, Gina and Roberto started dating. Months went by, and as they kept getting to know each other, they'd chat about various parts of their lives. One day, she recalls, "He started talking about this store that used to be down the street from him." When he said the name was Wizard of Oz, Gina told him it was her dad's store. Roberto's eyes lit up. "You're the one!" he said. "You're the girl!" Roberto, who describes himself as a "real macho guy back then," says he was overcome by the realization. "It did bring a tear to my eye," he says, "that fate finally brought me together with the right woman."

Roberto and Gina married on Aug. 4, 1984, and have two children, now 19 and 15. "It seems like we got married yesterday," says Gina, who calls herself a "domestic engineer," who takes care of the kids, does volunteer work at school and with their home association in Rockwall. Roberto, a division human resources manager, says that somehow during their marriage, they've been able to "keep things fresh." Maybe that's because they feel it was always meant to be. "I really do think people have a sixth sense, especially as children," he says. "Once I heard that she was the soul mate I'd spotted in my youth, I wasn't afraid to get married."

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