Howie and I are engaged to be married next Nov. 1. and I am the happiest woman in the world.

He is such a romantic!  On May 19 when he went to play golf in Philadelphia, his brother, a jeweler flew down from Raleigh to meet him and educate him about diamonds.  He’s known all this time and managed to not only keep a secret, but to fool me entirely.  I knew he loved me but figured it would be ten years before he would be able to commit to it.

 

We met Nov. 1, 2002 at the reception for Ed Sayers at the Florida Aquarium and the reason we got to know each other so well is that we both got there at 5:00 and no one else did until 5:30.  To celebrate our anniversary, Howie suggested that we go to Anna Maria Island for the weekend.  On Friday night, Halloween, we had gone to a lovely little restaurant called Euphemia Haye and had an intimate, candle lit dinner by the sea.

 

Saturday, Nov. 1 we met with Phil who was letting us borrow his brother’s house at 116 Maple (just a couple of houses off the beach) and he introduced us to Joe and Patsy who have purple clothes donation boxes all over the place so that we can put our signs out all over town and raise awareness for the cats.  Later we had a pic-nic on the beach, read and tanned ourselves and played in the gulf.  Back at the cottage, at 5:00 which is when we decided would actually have been a complete year, he hugged me with so much joy that it felt different than any hug before.  He is so good to me.

 

Howie had suggested that we take a bottle of Champaign out to the beach around six to watch the sun go down.  As the sun was sinking quickly to the horizon he handed me a big box and asked if I wanted to open my gift.  It was wrapped in beautiful, delicate white on white wrapping paper and as I tore away the paper the box said Neiman Marcus.  I commented on what an extravagant gift that must be and Howie said, “Nothing but the best for you.”

 

I was not prepared for what came next.  As I lifted the lid and peeled back the tissue paper, I saw, carefully mounted in place, a smaller black box that was open and holding a magnificent engagement ring.  In big script above it was a placard that said, “Will you marry me?” and underneath it read, “Hint:  The correct answer is Yes”.

 

As the reality of the moment enveloped me I burst into tears and buried my face into his chest.  I tried to say, “Yes, in this lifetime and in all nine”, (thinking of the birthday cards we had bought each other that we identical) but was sobbing too heavily to be understood.  Finally Howie asked if this meant, “yes” and I wrote in the sand: Yes!!!

 

He has made me the happiest woman in the world and I want to make him feel like king.  He is so good to me!

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

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Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.