Love Story: They were a Match.com made in heaven

Antoinette Perrie writes about how she met her husband, Philip D’Ambrosio.

Ten years ago, after being out in the single world for 18 years, I had happily thrown myself into my home in Jericho and my career as a chiropractor.

One night, in my travels, I ran into an old friend who was raving about her latest beau, whom she had met on Match.com. She encouraged me to give it a try. I had done the online dating thing in the past without long-term success. Though I wasn’t anxious to try it again, I decided to give it a one-month chance to find a perfect match. Alas, at the age of 57, my inbox was pretty empty!

After three weeks of responses from unlikely candidates, I took matters in another direction — I searched the profiles of available men in my area. And there it was, "Orthopedic Surgeon, 60 years old, living on the North Shore of Long Island" with a profile that had many requirements for a perfect match. I laughed and ignored his profile.

Two days later, I searched again and his profile came up again. I thought, "What the heck!" I lived close by, one of his requirements. So I wrote, "I’m just a tad older than your age requirement, I live in Jericho and I promise when you meet me, you won’t get scared." He answered immediately. We spoke on a Monday and made plans for the next Thursday at Two, a restaurant near his practice in Lake Success.

When he walked in the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised. He was handsome, intelligent, accomplished and well appointed. We clicked immediately; we had similar career tracks, knew many of the same people because of our careers, liked to travel and enjoyed fine cuisine. We ended up closing the place that night.

After five months of steady dating, we put the cart before the horse and booked a honeymoon. Then we got engaged and tried to find a place for a wedding. We both favored The Crescent Beach Club in Bayville, so we popped in on a random day in June looking for a date to have a wedding in August or early September. They laughed at us because it was so close to that time — and said they had Sept. 11 open.

We booked the date, getting married on the beach on Sept. 11, 2011. A Coast Guard chaplain, who was recommended by the venue, performed the ceremony, and we flew U.S. flags and observed a minute of silence during the ceremony to remember those who died in the 2001 terrorist attacks. The next day, we flew to Rome to catch a cruise to Venice.

Here we are 10 years later living in a condo in Westbury, still laughing and enjoying each other’s company. We travel the world and plan to celebrate our 10-year anniversary with four days in Paris followed by a Seine River cruise. My husband is a history buff, so we look forward to visiting Normandy and Omaha Beach in France.

We are both still working. Philip is still an orthopedic surgeon and consultant; I'm a chiropractor, licensed acupuncturist and certified medical coding expert. In addition to my practice, I am an expert witness in the New York State civil courts.

This winter, we will spend two months at our home in Boca Raton, Florida, where we can visit with my husband’s son and wife and their two children, Sloan and Desmond. I have a daughter, Michelle, who is 30 and lives in Manhattan. Life has been good to us, and we are grateful every day for what we have.

— With Lynn Petry