A Love Letter To Tony Ficalora

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Patch readers to write a love letter to that special someone and let us deliver it. This is Cathy Ficalora’s love story about her husband, Tony:

“So this was my journey to love. I grew up in the Babylon area and had a great childhood. As many did, I left for college but somehow found myself back on Long Island.

I was very active and loved to ski, bike, hike, sail, camp and travel. But there was something missing. I was missing the love of my life. I started to think about placing an ad in Newsday since back then there was no online dating -- after all, this was the ‘90s.

I placed ads three times in Newsday and always thought I had to meet toads until I meet the prince. Well, I finally won the lottery the day this gentleman answered my ad. We met at the Clam and Oyster Bar in Babylon Village and also got engaged there shortly after. The rest is history.

We have been happily married for 18 years and are in the process of moving from Long Island to Florida. He has a beautiful extended family with grandchildren and we are blessed. I do believe in miracles, because I never dreamt I could be so happy in love.”

--Cathy Ficalora

See all Patch love letters here.

For next month's Love In A Small Town feature, we want to know: What place in town will always be a reminder of love for you? Whether it's the park where you had your first kiss or the restaurant where he proposed, email your story to locallove@patch.com for the chance to be featured. Get more details here.