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The Winner, CWC Dinner-and-a-movie Contest
The Contest
We are looking for couples who, at some point in their relationship, were separated by great distance, across borders, continents, oceans, etc., whose love endured and they were ultimately reunited. In a few short paragraphs — 500 words max — tell us your love story and how you overcame adversity to be together, including locations, circumstances, duration of separation and the length of your relationship.
Our panel of hopeless romantics will pick the best entry and the winning couple will receive a pair of dinner and film tickets for their choice of Tuesday Feb 14 or Wednesday Feb 15. Submissions become the property of CWC and the winning entry will be shared with the audience before the film and on the CWC website.
The Winner
A native of Anderson Township, James Howes has been interested in film his entire life, learning to run 16 mm film projectors for teachers in his elementary school. He took film courses and was a member of the U.C. film club as an undergrad. He earned his MFA in Film and Video, working as an assistant manager of a The Fine Arts Theatres, a four-screen art film house in Chicago.
Subsequently, Jim moved to Norway where he edited film and video and optioned a feature script. He returned to Cincinnati in 2008 after marrying his wife Meg. He has three scripts in various stages of development and is a member of two local screenwriting groups: Cincyscript and Cincinnati Screenwriters. His day job is freelance editing research papers. Jim and his true love Meg (photo) have been together since 2007.
The Winning Essay
MERRY MEG by James Howes
It was late August 1970. It was 6th grade, just before the dawning of the realization that not all girls had cooties. I first laid eyes on Merry Meg in Room 218 of Anderson Middle School in Miss Carlton's 6th grade class. Or rather, I heard Miss Carlton call out her name. I knew she was special before she even answered. Such a name was ripe for teasing. Merry with an "E." Meg. Nut Meg. Powder Keg Meg. Man, all three names had possibilities. I knew she was special, but I saw the wrong reasons until three years later.
Flash forward to 9th grade: cracking voice, painfully hesitant, painfully self-conscious, and standing in stupefied silence in the presence of certain girls. God-awful gawky. Meg could silence me by walking into the room. She didn't even have to look at me. Most of the time, she didn't.
Student council sold carnations for a dime a piece on "Carnation Day." I had change for a couple. Dredging all the bravery I could from the bottom of my soul, I shuffled up behind Meg who was getting books from her locker. I waited for her to turn around so I could hold them up for her to take. She was surprised, but took them. I could say nothing, but made a hasty shuffling retreat into the stream of kids on their ways between classes.
A couple days later Kurt Schroeder told her with me in earshot that I REALLY LIKED her. Her answer was six death-dealing arrows: "I like him as a friend." If I only could have found a bottomless pit, no one would ever see me again. She was seeing someone named "Vince" from Youth Orchestra (didn't even go to Anderson). I was not musical. No chance.
1981, the 5 Year reunion: everyone is everyone else's best friend because no one wants anyone to think that he or she is still the same jerk. Meg walked toward me, making a beeline for her clique from the orchestra. The music was too loud to hear anything else. I screwed up all my courage as my heart fluttered in my throat and choked out "Hi, Meg" to her but she kept on going.
I found her profile on a website in June 2006. I lived in Norway, was divorced and an every-other-week-end-dad. I just wrote her an email asking how she was and to write back if she had time and inclination. By September, we had passed over 500 lengthy emails. She came for a four-day visit in early March 2007.
Two days before we were married, I went into the ER and got two stents and an angioplasty. I was released at 10:15 am on our wedding day. At 11 am, I was at SuperCuts. At noon, I was in the shower. At 1 pm, I was trying to focus on her face at the altar to avoid falling over. I haven't looked away or fallen since.
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