3 Howard and Ellie – Sharing chocolate for life

Howard is a special guy. He heads up a fun-loving charity called Chocolate Lovers of America. Each August, Howard charters an Amtrak business-class train car from San Juan Capistrano, California, for a one-day roundtrip to the horse races in Del Mar, a few miles north of San Diego.

The proceeds from the trip are donated to the Bridge Learning Center for Homeless Children, Laguna Beach, which provides mentors for children in shelters throughout Orange County. Howard has been the Executive Director for 15 years.

Howard’s love story is proof of why singles should never miss attending a wedding.

Howard, 64, and Ellie, mid 50s, didn’t know each other when they were both invited to a wedding in 1999. Howard was a widower and friend of the groom; Ellie had never married and was a friend of the bride.

Howard said, “My friend had told me months ahead of his wedding not to bring a date because there would be many single ladies. Little did I know that he and his wife-to-be had conspired to get Ellie and me together.

“Now, I have come to believe that a new relationship has a better chance to get started if mutual friends introduce the man and the woman—I hadn’t trusted that scenario before then.

“Ellie had never been married, and naturally, now she says she was waiting for the right one. I never realized I would meet ‘my right one’ after the death of my previous and wonderful wife.

“I knew I wanted to be married again, but firmly believe that it’s better to be alone and/or single than being with the wrong person.

“Until Ellie, my serial, monogamous relationships hadn’t lasted longer than five months. In many cases, I knew the relationships I was in wouldn’t last even that long.

“Now, after a divorce, a death of a spouse, and current marital bliss, I have learned something that defies words: “You don’t know when you’re with the wrong one, but you absolutely know when it’s the right one.”

How did this fun-loving guy pop the question to Ellie eight months after they met?

“We went to Hawaii the week of her birthday and although all of her friends were sure I would propose on her actual birthday, I waited until the last night. Next to a Koi pond, I asked her, ‘Will you share my chocolate with me for the rest of my life?’”

“Not only did she say yes, she told everyone in the restaurant and showed the ring to all close enough to hear her voice. It was really cute.

“On the way out of the restaurant, she even told the people waiting outside she was going to get married. A wise guy (with a sense of humor) said, ‘To him?’”

“When we got back to the hotel, she called her mother and all of her close friends, which is/was only the immediate world.”

When I asked Ellie about having never married, while marrying a man who’d been married twice before, she smiled, and said emphatically, “I’m his third and last wife.”

Lessons learned

• Singles should always attend weddings. Romance is in the air and singles are in the mood for love

• Widowed men and women can and do find love and happiness again

• People who have never married can easily marry later in life when they find the right one

• Being introduced by friends—networking—is one of the best ways to meet potential mates