Allen & Melinda's Love Story
Our story begins in early 1997. Melinda and I met while chatting on America Online. Our first date was January 10, 1997 and we went to Michael's Italian Restaurant. There was an instant connection and on February 14, 1997, we were engaged. The next year and a half were spent planning our beautiful wedding and on July 4, 1998, we tied the knot. The picture above was our wedding portrait.
This picture was taken on the day we got engaged, February 14, 1997. I took Melinda to Lee's Lakeside Restaurant in downtown Orlando. It was a special Valentine's Day event there and we had a delicious dinner. We took a walk on the boardwalk and around Lake Eola and looked at the stars. Melinda and I drove back to my house in Beverly Hills, FL (almost a 2-hour drive) and at 11:39 p.m. I asked her to marry me. After being together only 5 weeks, Melinda and I were engaged to be married. This runs in the family, however. My parents were engaged after 6 weeks and hers after just 3!
Here we are in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World! One of our favorite places on Earth is Disney and we go once a year. We were very fortunate to run into Minnie Mouse and we had to have our picture taken with her. Some of our favorite attractions are Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (you have to sit in the back though), The Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and It's A Small World. I like the Hall of Presidents and The Enchanted Tiki Room but Melinda hates those. Eventually, we visited Epcot, Disney MGM Studios, and the Animal Kingdom, but we love the Magic Kingdom so much we keep going back again and again.
This is a picture of Melinda's family taken while they still lived in Coral Springs, FL. Melissa, Melinda's sister, is a technical writer/trainer in South Florida. Her father, Dave, worked as an engineer for IBM for 25 years and her mother, Brenda, was a teacher's assistant in Broward County for 11 years. Her parents have retired to Edgewater, FL where they live in a beautiful community with lots of activities and ways to get involved, but the majority of their time is spent fishing and relaxing on their boat, Brenda V.
Melinda and I have to make many public appearances. I was the director of the Chorus of Beverly Hills for three years and was on call as a professional trumpet player. Here is a picture of Melinda and I taken before a friend's wedding in which I played trumpet and flugelhorn. I love to play trumpet at weddings. We have also attended Solo & Ensemble festivals, band director conventions, and many other events where we have had to don our "Sunday best" and be professional.
Allen's Final Thought
This is our formal engagement picture. We were very fortunate to find each other in this crazy world we live in. It seems as though people are moving in different directions and finding new and unique ways of meeting each other. We are just happy that America Online went to unlimited billing and afforded us the luxury of being able to meet and get to know each other. Love works in strange ways and though our story is not conventional, it is becoming more and more common to see people meeting over the Internet. Maybe one day everyone will meet this way. Until next time, take care of yourself ... and each other.
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