Our story begins and ends with a series of lucky choices, as if the stars aligned just for us. Had we taken different paths, our lives might have turned out entirely differently, but somehow, every twist and turn led us right here, to this beautiful moment together!

Pamela had reached a point where she was ready to give up on dating altogether, so she decided to try something new, and signed up for a matchmaking service. The process was slow, and there were a lot of fits and starts. After meeting with her first matchmaker and going through the all the get to know you stuff, the woman ended up leaving the company, leaving Pamela to start from scratch with a brand new matchmaker (strike number 1). She scheduled a photoshoot to get started, but on the day of the appointment, it rained, and the photoshoot had to be rescheduled (strike number 2). Despite the delays and frustrations, Pamela remained hopeful, still thinking it would be easier to let someone else handle the minutiae of finding this elusive mirage of a person that she was looking for. She took herself off of all the dating apps but didn’t delete the accounts—after all, setting them up again would be a tremendous hassle. (Anyone who has written a dating profile could relate:)

Meanwhile, Howard was still on the apps, but he had a habit of getting frustrated himself, and deleting his accounts entirely, only to start over a few months later. Howard and Pamela actually matched on Match.com before she signed up for the matchmaking service, but she wrote back one sentence, never to return...(or did she???) In the meantime Howard claims that when he saw Pamela's profile, he was instantly smitten. Little did she know, Howard returned Pamela's message immediately with his phone number (a bold move), a message that remained unread for several months. This time, he left this profile active for many months, instead of deleting it as he usually did after a certain amount of time had passed, hoping that she would return his message.

A few months passed. While Pamela was waiting for the matchmaking magic to happen, she got bored. She looked at the apps from time to time but was not active. One day she received an email notification letting her know that she had a message on her Match.com account. That’s when she stumbled upon an email from someone named "John"—she thought he was cute and decided to reply, because, why not.... But as she scrolled through her inbox, there was Howard’s message, still sitting there like a forgotten treasure, waiting to be discovered. On a whim, she wrote back to him too, and they quickly moved from app to text.

Fun fact: Howard’s ex-wife’s name is also Pamela (what are the chances?). He later said that if Pamela had used her name as her username on the app (she didn't), he probably wouldn't have clicked on her profile at all! But fate had its way, and soon they were planning their first date at La Villa, a charming Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. The moment they saw each other, the connection was undeniable. It was soon after Covid, so they got kicked out of the restaurant early, but not before realizing that something special was happening between them. Snow was falling unpredictably that night, adding a touch of magic to the evening.

Pamela: A couple of days later, I went on a date with "John," but he was a bore and only made me think of Howie—I realized I was already very interested. It was Valentine's Day when we saw each other again, and by then, I knew my heart was already spoken for. I canceled my upcoming date with the matchmaker’s pick—it just didn’t seem worth pursuing at the moment.

Three weeks later, we booked a spontaneous trip to the Bahamas, and when we came home, we never parted again, with Howie unofficially moving into my apartment. From there, everything just seemed to fall perfectly into place. A former commit-phobe, I said "YES" (to everyone's surprise), when he proposed to me in Venice, Italy, two and a half years after our first date.

We’re so excited to start this next chapter together.

In the time that we’ve been together, we’ve already experienced more than either of us could have ever imagined, and we know that the adventure is just about to get even bigger and better. Howie has truly become a part of my family, and we couldn’t feel more connected. We feel incredibly fortunate to have found each other, complementing one another perfectly. Where one of us is weak, the other is strong. I’m so glad I agreed to be his best friend forever!

*First pic was the first picture we ever took together, on our third date that never ended...