Our meeting was serendipitous. Normally 1,200 miles would have separated us. Connecticut girl and Florida guy. A fleeting moment of connection, or it never would have happened. We believe divine intervention may have been involved. We’ll never know.

Marsha was working remotely from Florida because of COVID, nearing the end of a 37-year marathon with her company in Connecticut. Jim, who had lived in various parts of Florida since 1970, largely on the East coast, returned to the best coast, where he’d attended high school, buying a house in Venice in 2018, about three miles from Marsha’s house.

On the evening of April 17th, 2021, a trembling Marsha and nervous Jim met outside a wine bar and enjoyed a lovely evening together. We hit it off. After a few more dinner dates, we went to a music and seafood festival. As time went on, getting to know each other, we went boating, to the beach, the St. Petersburg pier and a blues festival. After six long weeks of waiting patiently, we shared our first kiss.

We followed our new favorite bands, enjoyed Fourth of July fireworks on Venice Beach, played mini-golf, binged Netflix, danced and began playing pickle ball. We traveled to Connecticut, to the Magic Kingdom and to the Swamp in Gainesville for a Gator football game. We became quasi-groupies of 22N, an energetic and entertaining rock band. We survived a pandemic, endured Hurricane Ian and found a $6 hamburger (Bogey’s, Monday nights). Up North, we visited West Point, attended a Yankee game, a Broadway play and gazed at the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

THE ENGAGEMENT After traveling with family to Jessica and Raul's destination wedding in Barcelona, Marsha and Jim, along with several other family members, journeyed on to Sicily, Italy. There, on September 30, 2023, in the quaint, seaside town of Taormina, on a moonlit night at a fine restaurant overlooking the Ionia Sea, Jim bent to one knee and asked Marsha to marry him. We continued to the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Rome and London. A glorious way to celebrate our engagement.

We joke that we’re ‘on the back nine’ of life and feel so grateful to have found love. We’re best friends and we look forward to the years ahead and pray for health and happiness.

Since that wonderful evening in Taormina, Italy, we have been planning and preparing a memorable ceremony and celebration that we hope you will enjoy.