Micaela's Perspective:

It's Saturday, July 31st, 2021. I wake up in a hotel room in New Jersey, exhausted and hungover from partying all night at my friend's wedding. I roll over to check my phone and see a text from my dad, saying he's at Sunset Beach on Shelter Island and that I should come out. I quickly pull myself together and hit the road. I had a 3-hour drive ahead of me, but the sun was shining and I was so excited to be back at my favorite place, Sunset Beach Hotel.

Side note: For those of you who don't know, Sunset Beach is a small slice of French paradise on Shelter Island, owned by André Balazs (Owner of the Chateau Marmont in LA, The Standard in NYC, etc.). Shelter Island is a tiny island set between the North Fork and the South Fork of Long Island. You can take a Ferry from Greenport on the North Fork (where Patrick and I now live) or Sag Harbor on the South Fork in the Hamptons. It's a highly exclusive island, known as "Billionaire's Island," which is absolutely beautiful and a place both of us hold near and dear to our hearts. I've been visiting the Island since 2009 with my dad, and Pat's been working on/visiting the island since he was a teenager. We never crossed paths.. not until, July 31, 2021.

I finally arrive and it's the perfect beach day. I came equipped with my portable speaker to DJ some tunes, have a glass of froze (frozen rose, a sunset beach specialty) and enjoy the day. Some people on the beach, around my age commented on how they loved the music I was playing. It happens to be a group of locals who all own houses on the Island. We combine beach spots and spend the rest of the afternoon hanging and getting to know one another.

Later in the day, another guy shows up to the beach and joins our group. I notice him immediately because he's wearing a cowboy hat...

Side note: At this time in my life, I was living full time in Oklahoma City... the land of the cowboys. I never expected to see a cowboy cross my path on Shelter Island! What in the world was going on...

Not only was he wearing a cowboy hat but he was so cute and super fit. I mean.. the guy had muscles on top of muscles. To be honest, I could tell that he was younger than me, so I decided not to take the thought of him any further. This guy was obviously Pat. We didn’t have much of an exchange besides him standing up for an impromptu photoshoot while wearing his black cowboy hat and holding up an American flag…

The day continues and we’re all hanging out and my weenie dog, Oliver runs over to Pat and jumps on him and licks/kisses him all over. Pat, confused and shocked by this random dog’s spontaneous affection looks around and asks, “who’s crazy dog is this?”.. I look over and say, “he’s mine!” We lock eyes… Pat pulls out the smoothest line he could think of and says .. “Oh wow, what’s your name?” .. I say, “Micaela, what’s yours?”.. “I’m Patrick… I’m surprised you haven’t caught me eye before…” As he’s saying this, I’m literally holding back laughter… Is this guy serious? Who did he think he was? We continue to have a very quick chat, and his friend starts calling his name from his truck on the street. Pat gets up to leave and I say.. “Wait, you’re leaving?” … Those three words sealed the deal for him. He goes on his way, and the day ends.

I end up staying at Sunset Beach Hotel that weekend through the following week. Tuesday rolls around and I’m scrolling on Instagram and notice a “close friends” story with a green circle pop up on my page from a Pat_Anderson96… I had to do a double take because I didn’t even know who Pat_Anderson96 was, let alone why he was including me as one of his “close friends” in his story settings. I click on the story and it’s a beautiful beach sunset pic with the location tag, “Sunset Beach Hotel.” I click on the user’s profile and quickly realize it’s the Beach Cowboy from Saturday!

I take the bate and shoot him a message, “Are you here?” He responds another suave line, “All summer :) You?” Eager and ready to hangout with someone my age, I respond, “All week!” He replies, “Yay :) let’s do something!” A few quick, flirty exchanges with lots of extra letters at the end of wordsssssss and smiley faces galore, we make a plan to meet for a drink later that day.

Hours later, I had just gotten out of the shower and I get another DM, “All done :) Ya think you can scoop me from the ferry in like 20 min?” I’m literally naked… so I rush to get dressed, fix my hair, do my makeup, etc. and head over to the North Ferry. Now, at this point, I had no idea if he lived on the Island, or what, so I think I’m just doing a local a favor and I’m driving him to his house… I see him standing by the ferry with a backpack and hat. He hops in the car and I go, “Where am I taking you?”, he replies, “A secret spot…drive toward sunset beach.” So now I’m confused. He directs me down and around the island and we park on a dead end next to a huge rock with paintings all over it. He gets out of the car and doesn’t say a word. I get out and follow him as he starts walking down the beach… Mind you, it’s a gloomy, windy, gray day and it looks like it’s about to down pour. I’m thinking, I’m either going to die today, or there’s a slim chance we’re having a first date.

He leads me to a gazebo that’s set out from the beach in the water. It’s rustic and beautiful. He whips out a bottle of rose, and a towel for us to sit on. THANK GOD it wasn’t an axe and rope. We sit and chat about our love for President Donald Trump and I knew he was the one. We leave there and go to dinner at Isola, a cute Italian restaurant on the island. We talk and laugh for hours, sharing stories about our families, friends, places we’ve visited, anything and everything. Closing time comes and I have to take him back to the ferry so he can head home to Greenport. He kissed me bye, and the rest is history. We were inseparable ever since.

He continued to come back every day for the rest of the week to visit me while I was there. I had no idea he was in the Police Academy at the time and that he was driving 1.5 hours one-way to train/get yelled at all day, to then drive 1.5 hours back to Greenport, quickly change and hop on the ferry to come see me. If you ask me.. that’s love. He won’t admit it but it was love at first sight. He was a smitten kitten and he would have swam over to see he if he had to.

I ended up spending 19 out of 31 days on Shelter Island that August. I also never returned to Oklahoma City like I was supposed to. I ended up extending my stay in New York, working remotely for my company, and continuing to build my relationship with Pat.

A trip to the Bahamas with my company rolled around in December and I brought Pat along for the ride. He officially got down on one knee and asked me to… be his girlfriend. Two weeks later, he gave me my first Christmas gift, a custom 3D printed, “I Dream of Jeannie” genie bottle and a wrote me a hand-written love note where he told me that he loved me for the first time.

A trip to Costa Rica, the South of France, Italy, Bahamas (again the following year), Colombia, Italy (a different part), Spain…. And countless memories with our friends and family, our time together has been nothing short of spectacular!

Patrick's Perspective:

It’s July 31st, just another weekend in paradise on Shelter Island. I was in the Police Academy at the time, so I rocked a shaved head all summer. To hide my baldness, I decided to wear a beautiful cowboy hat the day I met Micaela. While hanging out with some buddies on sunset beach, I noticed this crazy weenie dog running around causing chaos. He was really handsome so I couldn’t resist playing with him. Let’s just say I got her dog’s approval. Step one complete.

While wondering where his owner was, I gazed down the beach to see a crazy blonde staring at us (The owner, Micaela). Armed with an oversized American Flag draped over my back like a cape, I approached the crazy blonde, and made some small talk. I hit her with the old, “I’m surprised you never caught my eye…” line. She was obviously smitten from the start. After 5 minutes, she had me modeling with the American Flag as she took pics of me. We were off to a great start. Step two complete.

Soon after our connection sparked, time intervened, and I could hear my buddy, yelling at me that we had to go. Without too much thought, I told her it was nice meeting her started to walk away…and to my surprise, I received a heartwarming reply - “Oh you’re leaving already…?” At that moment, butterflies consumed my stomach. I knew she was into me. Step three complete.

I was able to get her number and set up a date the following week. I remember bragging to all my buddies in the Police Academy about Micaela and after hours of deep classroom discussion, they helped me compose the first text I sent to her…”Heyyy” with three y’s. As predicted, she took the bait and responded. Step 4 complete.

Before our first date, (our 2nd encounter) I remember how exhausted I was from running drills at the academy. I couldn’t let it threaten to derail the evening. Desperate for a boost, I turned to a military buddy for a scoop of "I am God" pre-workout, which had 400mg of caffeine in one hit. A risky move, perhaps, but love knows no bounds.

While brainstorming ideas of where to take her, I decided on a very romantic spot on the peninsula of Shelter Island. However, it’s hard to get to and sort of isolated. Nonetheless, it was a fairytale destination accessible only by determination and love, so I was up for the challenge. I threw on a flannel, jeans, a baseball cap and cowboy boots and left the house with a backpack full of only the essentials: a bottle of Rose, a picnic blanket and some fruit, and headed to the ferry. Looking back, I probably seemed like a serial killer by the way I was dressed and remember her seeming kind of sketched out when I made her park the car at a “Dead End” street only to walk down a desolate beach on a gray foggy/windy day.

When we reached the romantic gazebo, she was relieved I pulled out the bottle of rose instead of the shovel and rope… even though we had to drink the wine straight from the bottle because I forgot wine glasses. After we chatted for a bit, we decided to continue the night at a nice Italian restaurant.

We sat at the bar and I could barely hold up my drink due to all the caffeine in my body. My caffeine induced jitters caused me to spill my drink all over the bar and almost her. Thankfully, she looked past my nerves, only finding charm in my clumsiness. Long story short, after she answered my follow up text message the following day, hoping to see me again, I knew I had scored a keeper. 5th and final step complete.

During the academy, I remember getting yelled for staring out the window, while daydreaming of my next date with Micaela. As soon as class ended, I would quickly drive 1.5 hours home, go to the gym (of course), and jump on the ferry to see my girl aka my "genie in a bottle." From that moment on, every day became a countdown to Micaela and I's next adventure. Whether in the academy classroom or on the 10 min ferry to Shelter Island, thoughts of Micaela consumed me. Shelter Island not only gifted me with cherished memories but also with the greatest treasure of all, Micaela, my forever love (and Oliver, my first love).