Last summer we had fortune of meeting a great guy, Collier County deputy, Daniel. He happened to be engaged and he introduced us to his fiancé Joanna. Here is their love story as it was told to us by Dan:
“Joanna and I met on an online dating site. I quickly found out that she was an emergency dispatcher with the city of Naples. I figured there was no way she would be interested and we would just trade shots, at best, about who was better, the city or the county. After some weeks had passed, she decided that she had at least a minimal interest in me and wanted to meet. She invited me to her house to meet and talk, prior to both of us going into work for the evening. Needless to say, that first meeting was all it took. I walked out of the house and ended the meeting with a handshake. I knew that I was in trouble and decided I wanted to learn more about her. I spent the next month leaving little gifts and flowers at her front door, in hopes that she would choose me.
As we progressed in our dating scheme, it happened that my parents were down from NJ. I asked if she wanted to meet them and she agreed. She asked me how I was going to introduce her…. I replied, ” as a girl who is my friend.” She did not like that and decided that she was to be introduced as my girlfriend. I was smitten with the response and thus the saga began.
As the months passed, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with both her and her son, Alexander. I decided in the early part of February, 2012 that I would seek her parents permission to marry her and marry into the family. I was grateful that Tad and Anya agreed to allow me to do so.
As luck would have it, I was on my way to buy a ring when I got a phone call from Heather Turco at NBC news. I had secretly entered a proposal contest for Valentines Day. I was a finalist! Now I was to be standing at the base of the Naples Pier (in full CCSO Uniform), at sunset, with a dozen red roses, asking Joanna to marry me. When she approached, I dropped to one knee and told her that I had won the lottery of love and the lottery of life, I just wanted to know if she would agreed to marry me. Thank God she said yes. “
