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Even more inspirational is how this
couple found each other—a union they declare that was destined
to be.
HER STORY
Diana and her first
husband Paul Von Welanetz had an ideal marriage. Not only
were they devoted to each other, but also they co-hosted a
successful cooking show for Lifetime Cable Network,
co-authored six best-selling cookbooks and operated a cooking
school on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Their talents and
skills so melded together that the press referred to the
couple as “The Lunt and Fontanne of the Kitchen.” “The best
moments though were when we were more like Abbott and Costello
in the kitchen, making mistakes and laughing at ourselves,”
recalls Diana.
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Diana and Ted Wentworth, the authors of Send Me
Someone and Build a Better Spouse Trap have
reserved 100 signed copies of each hardcover book
exclusively for Couples Company Readers
at a special price of $14.95 ($21.95
through Amazon) for Hardcover Signed Build a Better Spouse Trap
or $17.95 ($24.95
via Amazon) for Send Me Someone.
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After years of their
fast-paced, fun-filled life of television and cooking classes,
Diana and Paul sought a change and a new direction and
purpose. In 1985 they attended Impact, an ongoing
motivational seminar where they met television producers who
invited them to part of a media group traveling to the soviet
Union to film American “citizen diplomats,” talking with
Soviet citizens about how to end the Cod War and contribute to
world peace. TOP
Diana was enthusiastic
about the prospects of this opportunity leading to a change in
focus and a career move as well. She was right. After
returning to California, Diana and Paul, so inspired by their
experiences, established a forum for personal expansion and
creative exploration on such vital issues as environmental
awareness and world peace. The group took on the name of
The Inside Edge because says, Diana, “That phrase
succinctly describes the part of everyone that is always
learning and growing, willing to be at risk in moving toward
accomplishment.” The Inside Edge was such a success
that the couple opened three branches across California in the
next several years.
TOP
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The sweetness of that
success was short-lived. Just after celebrating their 25th
wedding anniversary, Paul was diagnosed with inoperable lung
cancer. The disease took its toll and during the last days of
his life, Paul told Diana he didn’t want her to be alone.
“then send me someone!” said Diana. “I will,” he promised.
And he did. Less than a year after his death, he sent her Ted
Wentworth.
HIS STORY
Ted Wentworth, a
California trial lawyer, lost his wife Sharon to breast cancer
after 22 years of marriage. Following her death, each morning
he would wake up knowing that “the most delicate part of his
heart had gone with her.” In addition to being lonely, Ted
felt guilty knowing that he would see their two daughters get
married, have children and Sharon would not be there. During
her four-year illness, Sharon told Ted several times that she
wanted him to be happy and go on with his life after she was
gone. TOP
“Even with that
encouragement it was very difficult to face the possibility of
‘dating’ again, especially in midlife and after so many years
of marriage. But self-pity isn’t my style. I’ve always been
a self-starter, and I know persistence is a virtue. What
works is to pick myself up, dust myself off and go back and
overcome what threw me,” says Ted.
A year later he reached a
level of acceptance and decided he wanted a new partner in his
life. This meant creating a dating strategy. He began
working on himself to become the best person he could be so he
would attract just the right woman. “I suppose you could say
I was building a better spouse trap!”
TOP
Ted told his friends he
was looking for Ms-right-for-Me; his mission was to find a new
wife/best friend. He began dating numerous women over the
next few months. The more women he dated, the more difficult
it was to remember the details about each of the ladies and
their lives; so he created a computer software program to keep
track of the data such as where they went to school, their
children’s and pets’ names, etc. Ted’s quest went on for
nearly two years and much to his frustration he still had not
found the right woman.
A chance meeting with an
old friend got him an unexpected invitation to—you guessed
it—a meeting at The Inside Edge where his friend
suggested he might meet some very attractive women. Ted
remembers walking into the meeting and feeling a chill. He
knew the woman he was looking for was in the room. Now he had
to find her. TOP
THEIR STORY
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It was just two months
after Paul’s death and Diana had just returned from a week of
solitude and reflection at a friend’s oceanfront home in
Kauai, Hawaii. Although barely feeling a sense of balance in
her life without Paul, Diana decided to conduct The Inside
Edge meeting. |
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She knew that friends and
supporters who had been through the anguish of Paul’s illness
and death were anxious to see how she was doing. Knowing
that people can feel awkward around some so recently bereaved,
she wanted to put them at ease. She described her
restful trip and spoke lightly about the prospects of life as
a single woman and never considering the possibility of ever
meeting a man and experiencing a new relationship.
TOP
After the meeting as
Diana mingled with the group, a playful voice behind her
asked, “Will you live with me?” She spun around and looked
into the bright blue eyes of a man she had never seen
before—Ted Wentworth.
There was no real
attraction after this first meeting, but that changed over the
next few months as Diana and Ted began to date. The fact that
Ted lived 60 miles from Diana and had his law practice to run
and she had The Inside Edge to manage, curtailed the
amount of time they could spend with each other but the phone
was a daily way to communicate. Each weekend they were
together either at his ranch in Temecula, flying gin his plane
to a special weekend getaway or exploring new areas of
California, while they developed a rich relationship and began
to fall in love.
TOP
In her quiet moments
Diana reflected on her experiences with Ted and felt that Paul
had chosen this “vital and productive man” for her knowing
that she would be in safe hands. Many things happened in
their relationship that convinced her of that, not the least
of which were instances of the similarities in their
behavior. During an evening walk, a puzzled look came over
Ted’s face as he suddenly tossed some pocket change onto the
sidewalk. When Diana asked why he did that, Ted replied he
didn’t know but he just had a strange urge to do it.
Ironically, this had been a habit of Paul’s. Later in a
restaurant Ted inadvertently used his knife to shape a pat of
butter on is bread plate into a heart shape, another of Paul’s
idiosyncrasies. The couple stared into each other’s eyes with
amazement as they both realized that Paul was “with” them.
TOP
Before proposing, Ted
asked Diana’s daughter Lexi for her blessing, knowing it would
be an adjustment so soon after Paul’s death. Lexi approved
and she, along with Ted’s daughters, Christy and Kathy, as
well as relatives and close friends, attended the couple’s
wedding aboard Ted’s yacht. As part of the ceremony, and at
the couple’s request, the minister invited the presence of
Paul and Sharon to participate in the ceremony. “Not a soul
doubted they were there, silently applauding, wishing us joy.”
In the 12 years since
Diana and Ted married, Ted’s two daughters have married and
had children and Lexi also married and is expecting her first
child. Diana retired from The Inside Edge and has
written a book that was published last year. Send Me
Someone tells the story of her life with Paul and with
Ted from a romantic prospective. Now Ted has published a book
titled Building a Better Spouse Trap in which he
tells how to deal with the pain of the loss of a spouse due to
death or divorce and how to move on with your life. Using his
own experience in looking for his new life partner as a
guideline, Ted describes how to develop a deliberate,
purposeful plan for finding a new partner and best friend,
turning hope into reality.
Read Diana's inspiring True Story of finding true love twice in a lifetime!
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Order
through
Amazon: $24.95
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Personalized Signed Copy just
$17.95!
Only
100 available! Hurry! |
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Send Me
Someone:
A True Story of Love here and the hereafter
by Diana von Welanetz-Wentworth
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| Hardcover, 1st
Addition.
Read the Background
on this highly inspiring story. If
you're looking for the perfect "Mom", "Grandma" or
"Mother-in-law" book, she will love this! Don't
wait. Diana has set aside 100 books for signature
and this promotion! When they are gone, they are
gone!
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