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Amy Scherzer's diary

Heart Beat: Love finds its footing

A marriage built on respect for parents, religion and heritage - now that's worth waiting for.

By AMY SCHERZER
Published September 1, 2006

BALLAST POINT

Forty or 50 messages awaited Anna Cornett each time she signed onto Match.com. One guy invited her to meet his children in the Bahamas. One wanted her to come to Italy. Another promised fun in New York. Explicit photos were among the more colorful responses.

Only one got an answer: Craig Meddin. She had no idea he lived a block away from her apartment in Hyde Park.

Cornett described herself as a sports fan who had traveled to 30 countries. Meddin wrote that he started a business in college and after a summer in Singapore, toured Southeast Asia.

A month of e-mailing preceded drinks at a SoHo bar in December 2002. Cornett, a litigation graphic designer for a trial consultant, stayed less than an hour.

"She said she had to prepare for court," Meddin said, although she was dressed for a night out. He was relieved to get an e-mail from her at 2 a.m., griping that she was still at work.

Born in Busan, Korea, Cornett, 26, came to the United States to study at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota. She had never lived on her own, never learned to drive.

"It was culture shock coming from a city of 5-million," she said. "I had no idea you needed a car to get around in Sarasota."

After graduating in May 2002, Cornett moved to Tampa to work for Trial Practices Inc. A friend encouraged her to try Match.com.

Meddin, 27, grew up in Clearwater, son of Jeff and the late Jackee Meddin. His mother contracted viral encephalitis after a trip to Asia in 2001. She was in a coma for 74 days and never returned to normal. She died four years later.

When he was a junior at the University of Florida, Meddin started U.S. Postal Solutions, a private mail management company. After fighting the post office for not delivering mail to off-campus student housing, he decided to do it himself. Now his company picks up, sorts and delivers mail to 14,000 people in five states.

By February, Cornett and Meddin were friends playing pool at the Rack and meeting for dinner at Bella's.

"He seemed like the fun and friendly type, but not the get-married-to type," Cornett said.

"We even joked that she wouldn't have to buy me a birthday present in March," he said, recalling his skepticism that they'd still be seeing each other.

A pickle juice accident at Jimbo's Pit Bar-B-Q might have been a turning point. She earned big creds with the guys.

"My friend Matt tried to sit at a picnic table holding a plate of pickles," Meddin said. "Pickle juice dripped down Anna's head, her face, her neck.

"She just wiped it off, didn't freak out or anything," he said, thus passing the "friend test."

After Cornett organized Meddin's birthday party at Big City Tavern, the relationship took off. "But we never discussed a future together," he said.

When they finally did, he felt so strongly about marrying a Jewish woman that they broke up. In October 2003, he moved back to Gainesville, where his business is based.

"I'm thinking, wow, I'm single, not a poor college student, sounds fantastic," Meddin said.

The reality: He was bored to death. After a year of constantly commuting, he sold his house and moved in with Cornett. A month later, in December 2004, the couple bought a condo on the southern end of Bayshore Boulevard.

Because her parents, Okja and Billy Cornett, live in China, Meddin asked them via e-mail for permission to marry their daughter.

Their answer set them back. They asked them to honor tradition and wait until her older brother was engaged.

Disappointed, the couple got two puppies and put the engagement ring they designed in a safe deposit box. They also joined Rodeph Sholom synagogue and began weekly study sessions with Rabbi Marc Sack.

"I always liked learning about other cultures," Cornett said, "and Judaism was very important to Craig and his family."

During summer 2005, Cornett quit her job to pursue law school. She studied for the LSAT and prodded her brother, who is in a longtime relationship, into matrimony. No luck there.

Finally, in April, Cornett prevailed upon her mother to bless their union. Meddin was recovering from elective surgery when she gave him the news. All notion of an exotic proposal flew away.

"I just grabbed her arm and asked her to marry me," he said. "I had been thinking of getting engaged in a hot air balloon or going to a romantic resort, but I was too excited to wait."

The ring came out of the vault the next day. Four months later, on Aug. 13, Rabbi Gabriel Ben-Or officiated at the Don CeSar Beach Resort. Two days later, Anna Meddin started classes at Florida A&M University's College of Law in Orlando. They've rented their condo until they return to Tampa.

No more waiting except for the honeymoon. That will have to wait until the end of the first semester.

Amy Scherzer can be reached at scherzer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3332.

[Last modified August 30, 2006, 08:28:02]