In Laguna Beach, CA, Richard and Maureen celebrated their love for each other.

A printable version of the following can be found here.


July 4th, 2005

"So why don't you tell us what happened this morning?"

"This morning, after a great party in my house in Emerald Bay with all these wonderful people that were just enjoying themselves, Maureen came and joined us for breakfast. And at that time I expressed my feelings for her 'cause it's been ten years since I've been looking for the woman that was--of all of the women in the world, the one that was best for me and I found her. And her name is Maureen. So, I bought her and presented a ring to her, which I call a Promise Ring--it's on her right hand--to symbolize my feelings for her. And it's my hope that she and I are on the road to a lifetime of happiness and the ring is the symbol of that acknowledgment of my feelings toward her."

"What do you think about this, Maureen?"

"I love Maureen." [Richard]

"I love Richard. And I thought it was really cool that he did it in front of his daughter and all her friends and he said it from the heart and had it prepared and it was just amazing. And I love--he picked out the ring--I had no say in it--and it's beautiful. Don't you think?"

"How'd you guys meet?"

"We met in the most modern of ways: we met on the internet--on a website called Match.com. And--thank you for the laughters over there!--and Maureen is six feet tall and she put in her site that she's looking for a man that's at least six-foot-one, which I'm not--I'm only six foot tall. So, I sent an email which had the subject heading 'Almost' and I said, "I'm only six feet tall. What if I stood up very straight?"

"And I wrote back: 'Maybe you can wear your platforms.' And then I said, 'Six feet has worked for me, so I guess it's good for you. How 'bout we meet for coffee?'"

"I said, 'Thank you for overlooking the fact that I'm vertically challenged' and we got together a few days later and it's been beautiful ever since."

"What's a memory that stands out--something you did together?"

"That's a good question for you." [Richard]

"Why thank you. That is a good question for me. Gosh, you know, the memory that sticks out the best was on the third date and I went to his house to pick him up and there was a photo album that Marissa, his daughter whose eighteen, had put together for him last Father's Day and in it was a letter she wrote. And she wrote that he danced funny in the kitchen--which I didn't think he could dance funny--and behold he can, and--"

"--very funny." [Richard]

"Yeah, very funny. And then she wrote about about his character and what she's learned from him and I thought, 'Woah, if a daughter can write this about her father, the guy's gotta' be pretty quality.'"

"So, we went to a really sleezy bar and a really bad band and we just danced--danced our brains out."

"And I didn't think--at the first date that he was Mr. Serious, Mr. Business--and I didn't think he could be funny or I didn't think he had a sense of humor, and it turns out he's like the funniest guy in the world. He's wacky!"

"I was just holding out."

"And I didn't think he would ever go to a Dive Bar and, boy, we go to Dive Bars now and he's like--he's a man of character and integrity. And I love him."

"What do you guys look forward to?"

"An eternity of happiness."

"And SIR." [Maureen]

"And SIR!--and SIR! I'll let Maureen talk about SIR."

"I've heard a little bit about it, but tell us."

"SIR is our son--" [Maureen]

"Not-yet conceived." [Richard]

"Not-yet conceived, yes--that we know of--um, and his name is Samuel, after Richard's grandfather, but when we were talking, I told him about I wanted to have a son and his name was gonna be Samuel and he had no idea--I had no idea that his grandfather was Samuel and, in the Jewish tradition, you name your children after somebody that has passed on--and his grandfather had passed on and his name was Samuel. And his last name is...so he says that the middle name has to be an 'I.' So we talked about my Dad's name was John and my Dad's Dad's name was John and my brother's name is John and it just goes on in the family--and so In is the Scottish name for 'John' and we thought, 'That could be a good one' or 'Isreal' or--just some 'I,' but it's gotta' be 'SIR.' So, our initials are 'M' and 'R'--"

"So we're 'MR' and our son will be 'SIR.'"

"I have another question--"

"Well, I'll answer your early question. Another great moment we had was not too long ago; we were at my home again and, uh, we were called down by Marissa who was with Becky and Donya and Kimmie came down and we just had a beautiful meal prepared by our household helper and these girls were all doing this beautiful singing and all of that environment--the next day, I hear from Maureen by email, and she said, 'I felt like I was in The Sound of Music.'"

"It was amazing. Well it was just like tonight." [Maureen]

"Very much." [Richard]

"Amazing, yeah." [Maureen]

"So life is beautiful." [Richard]

"And another thing is his girls are just amazing; it's the--them, it just makes him all the better. It's--I haven't raised children but I've seen people raise children and have failed at it miserably--and it's surreal."

"I'm very blessed to be able to ride the coattails of my daughters." [laughs]

"So if you two could be anywhere doing anything together right now--you know, time, transportation--it doesn't matter- -where would it be and what would you be doing?"

"We'd be in Laguna Beach on July 4th enjoying this beautiful family environment with some of the most talented and wonderful children and adults in the world--" [Richard]