By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
January 2, 2000
Back in 1977, Pat Ranallo was psyched. He was 23 and about to take a cruise to the West Indies. He and his friend thought they would bask in the sun, meet some women and enjoy their vacation.
On the second day of their cruise, Ranallo’s life changed.
Forever.
He ran into the woman of his dreams – as he was leaving the restroom. Thanks to the rum he had imbibed during the night, he wasn’t embarrassed by the circumstances.
“I saw Patti and thought she was the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen,” says Pat, now 45. “I wanted to talk to her but wasn’t sure what to say. And I knew I was drunk, so I was careful what to say. Finally, I warned her. I’m a plumber and knew that the toilet was a little iffy. So I told her to watch out for it (because it was making) a lot of strange noises. She looked at me like I was a goof.”
Hesitant to leave the woman of his dreams behind, he waited for her.
“She was embarrassed that I had waited,” he says. “But she said I was right!”
The next day, they bumped into each other again, this time on deck. Pat was convinced that he had just found his future wife. And he told her so.
“I knew the first day that I met her that I was going to marry her,” Pat recalls. “It’s just something that was so obvious to me. Nothing could’ve convinced me otherwise.”
Not even the fact that Patti was engaged to another man. He rationalized that while that may be, she wasn’t married yet.
Eager to see her again once the trip ended, he finagled a work phone number from her. She was a hairdresser and, conveniently enough, his buddy’s hair needed to be cut. Maybe his friend would accompany him. And heck, while they were there, they might as well take her and a friend out to dinner afterward.
Once they returned home, Pat and Patti hung out a little together . . . as friends. Patti came to his family’s Fourth of July barbecue.
“After a couple of weeks, she broke up with her fiance and dated me regularly,” Pat says. “In October 1977, we got engaged.”
They were married on June 4, 1978.
“Well, here we are 1999 – 21-plus years later and still together,” Pat says. “We live in Bloomingdale and have three great children. And I still have the most beautiful wife in the world, who is also my best friend.”
