Jimbo and I met in 2005 thru my friend Louie.  Jimbo had just moved in as Louie’s roommate.  I offered to give Louie a ride to the airport in Tampa.  Louie asked Jimbo if he would mind riding with me so I would not have to go alone.  I had not hung out with Jimbo yet so let s just say it was an interesting ride.  After returning back from Tampa Jimbo invited me over for dinner the next day.  We spent every day together while Louie was on his weeklong vacation.  It just felt right.  We had this unusual connection that we could not explain.  We tried to keep things as friends but as time passed we realized that we had fallen in LOVE. 

Jimbo jokes “You put a SPELL ON ME!!”

We decided to take it to the next level.  We had rented a beautiful house two canals from the Caloosahatchee River.  Jimbo and I got a boat and would go out and watch the sunset on the water.  We enjoyed our life together and the simple pleasures we had.  

With this amazing connection there was still a little conflict that I had chose to ignore at this point in his life he did not want to get married or have children.  With my strong Italian family and a desire to get married we had to make a very hard decision.   After a year and a half of the most amazing times of our lives we broke up. 

I moved to North Carolina and Kansas and was gone for 5 years.  I tried to date but no one could compare to him.  Jimbo felt that he was just meant to live alone.

In March of 2011 my mother asked me to come back to Florida to help take care of her.  In May I packed up my apartment in North Carolina and moved back.   Contemplating if I should see Jimbo or not I gave my girlfriend Kelly permission to give him my phone number.  She called me right away after seeing him and within 2 minutes he was on the other line calling me.  We had our first meeting at Sanibel Causeway.  I was a nervous wreck.  We were each other’s true love and soul mate

As soon as we set eyes on each other it was like we never skipped a beat.  He told me that he broke his heart 5 years ago and wants to get married and have children.  Those words were music to my ears.  Now here we are…

 

 

 

 Jimbo is a very detailed man so when planning his proposal he had to put a lot of thought and consideration into how he was going to pop the question.  The one thing that he knew for sure was that he wanted my family there.  How was he going to surprise me and catch me off guard?  

It was my parent’s 38^th wedding anniversary and we organized a special dinner for them.  I had to work late so I rushed to the restaurant straight from work.  My father was acting very unusual;  looking back now  I knew he had to be nervous, but not as nervous as Jimbo.  I recall asking him why he was so sweaty. HaHa.   After placing our order Jimbo got up to go to the restroom.  I didn’t think twice about that.   Upon his return my father stood to make his toast.

Dad- “I have a wonderful family and a beautiful wife of 38 years that I love dearly, and the newest member of the family has something to say….”

Kurt- “Who, -  Jimbo????”

Jimbo- He stands and grabs my hand to pull me up out of my seat, “You know I love you.  Fate brought us back together and I never want to let you go.. WILL YOU MARRY ME???”

Laura- “YES!!!!!!!”

After the proposal I found out that Jimbo went to the bathroom to put the ring in his pocket.  He kept his hand in his pocket so the box would be in the right position when he opened it.  On his way back to the table he accidently bumped into a man sitting at the table next to us. Oops.  Jimbo jokes about practicing with my parents…..he must have asked them to marry him a hundred times!

This is the beginning of the rest of our lives together and we couldn’t be happier.