Imagine falling deeply in love with someone who lives over 1,000 miles away. Would you dive in head first and try your hardest to make it work, or would you give up and always wonder what could have been?
Love knows no boundaries for the two incredible people you are about to meet!
We learned about Marcus and Gina’s special PlentyOfFish success story just this past November and are very excited to share it with you.
Where do you live?
Gina: New York City, New York
Marcus: Orlando, Florida
Distance?
1,105 miles, 7 states apart, 22 hour train ride, 3 hour flight
Who initiated the first message?
Marcus: Gina took the reins on that one and messaged me first. I noticed her profile once before and thought, whoa she is beautiful!
Gina: I definitely reached out to Marcus first. I saw his picture one day, but at the time I had gone on a couple dates with someone else. In the end that didn’t work out, so I went back on PlentyOfFish and there was Marcus again under Meet Me. I decided to go for it!
Why did you feel so compelled to message Marcus?
Gina: I viewed his profile and noticed we had a lot in common; both liked the Yankees, he was a family man (I have a son myself) and had great taste in music. He was fully clothed in his profile picture (laughs!) and I was definitely attracted to him.
How long did your first conversation last?
Gina: June 30, 2012 was the first message and we talked from 3:44pm-5:37pm (yes, I timed it and saved all our conversations)! Marcus asked for my number at the end of our message thread, we exchanged texts which eventually lead to phone calls and an invite to NYC for our first date!
Marcus: Once we started talking there was no looking back from there. This was it. When I visited Gina in NYC, we had to make a trip to Sprint to get Gina’s phone fixed from the amount of saved messages she had from our lengthy conversations.
What was your first date like? Were you nervous? (3 weeks after they first met online, Gina and Marcus met face to face in NYC)
Marcus: Nervous? Not at all. Gina had mentioned to me that her son had joined a bowling league so I thought it would be a great first date idea. I already felt so comfortable with Gina since we had talked so much on the phone together.
Gina: I was so nervous to see him for the first time! I picked him up at the airport. We arrived at the bowling alley but there was quite the wait so Marcus suggested we play a game of pool. I used to play pool often and knew I could kick his butt, my nerves got the best of me and I was a hot mess.
What is the most romantic thing Marcus/Gina has ever done for you?
Gina: There have been a lot of things. Out of the blue he will send me little videos saying “I miss you, I love you and I can’t wait for us to be together.” There was this one morning in Florida at 4:30am when Marcus woke me up and said let’s go to the beach and catch the sunrise. We sat on a lifeguard chair with a blanket while the sun came up on the water and to our surprise a pod of dolphins swam by! I will never forget how I felt in that moment with Marcus.
Marcus: I’m a huge football fan and my team was playing a big game in London, England but unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the game. I made a trip to NYC to visit Gina and when I arrived she had her living room set up like the city of London with props, photos and an amazing food spread. She knew just how much the game meant to me and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
At what point did you know this was forever?
Gina: To be honest it was almost immediate for me, but it felt too good to be true, I kept pinching myself. I never imagined a relationship like this one was even possible. After Marcus left NYC on his first trip, I was sitting on the porch with my best friend and he looked at me and said “Gina you have a glow about you, who is it?” He knew I was head over heels.
Marcus: I was telling a coworker about Gina when I got home from NYC and he said “she’s the one you will end up with, I just know it.” Gina still wonders what I told him! (laughs) It was a steady progression for me over time because the more I got to know Gina, I realized we clicked on all levels. Every day just keeps getting better and better.
What are you most looking most forward to in the future together?
Gina: I will be moving to Orlando, Florida with my son in the New Year which is a huge step for our little family. I can’t wait to have the two families together and legitimately be able to see Marcus on a daily basis. No more tearful goodbyes at the airport!
Marcus: I am looking most forward to starting our lives together in one place and growing deeper in love every day.
