"The minute I walked through that door, bam, she was ready for me," says Modzelewski. "It was incredible! If more guys would treat their ladies this way, they'd see it makes all the difference in the world."
How does Michael love Paula? Let us count the ways.
When Modzelewski proposed to Grecco, he did so via a giant banner stretched across an arrival gate at San Francisco International Airport. (I was amazed, crying, and the happiest I've ever been," recalls Grecco. "Everyone cheered.) On one of their earliest dates, Grecco reportedly rounded up a free airline ticket and suggested that Modzelewski meet her for a romantic, if long, lunch in Aruba. And in the ultimate nod to jet-set romance, the two continue to maintain separate residences--hers in Phoenix, his in Berkeley. After all, they're always just an airplane ride apart.
"It keeps things fresh," says Modzelewski, who claims he still manages to see his beloved bride at least once a week, more often than not in some distant city in which Grecco happens to have a layover.
"I want to have an affair with my wife forever," continues Modzelewski, who never fails to show up for a rendezvous with flowers in hand, according to Grecco. "We still want to date," he says. "We've met in Paris, London, Greece and Austria. Even though we're married, I've still got to call up and ask her out. We think it's important to keep that freshness in a relationship."
And when he can't be near the one he loves? "He sends me poems, letters and hot, erotic faxes," explains Grecco. "This man uses words to rival Cyrano de Bergerac! He is so creative--he never repeats himself twice. It's as if there is no end to his love."
Grecco (who, like Modzelewski, has a previous marriage under her belt) advocates spicy communiqu‚s as a cure for any failing union. "One of the male flight attendants I work with told me he was having trouble with his marriage, so I showed him some of the letters Michael had faxed me," she reports. "So he went home and started sending his wife love letters. Now he says they're completely back in love and stuff. Michael's letters to me made him realize how he'd taken his wife for granted."
"Being a creative person, I really get a lot of pleasure out of dreaming up surprises like these treasure hunts," says Modzelewski. "It's a clich‚, but it's true--it really is better to give than to receive. It's fun. I don't know why more men don't get into this."
How these unconventional love tips apply to the average Joe, who doesn't have access to unlimited free airplane tickets and, horror of horrors, who might even be living under the same roof with his wife, is not exactly clear.
"He'd just have to be a little more imaginative, that's all," says Modzelewski. "Maybe he could spend three hours going through magazines in a bookstore finding pictures for a special collage. Women would rather have that kind of creativity, knowing that he'd spent the time on a special surprise rather than spending a great deal of money."
Despite their endless talk of romance, one can't help wondering why Grecco and Modzelewski seem so obsessed with playing out their love affair against a background of airport metal detectors and gangplanks. Could it be that they are incapable of enjoying one another's company in anything resembling a realistic setting? And why did they bother to spoil their globetrotting courtship with something as confining as marriage?
"Because of AIDS, it's really pass‚ to be a bachelor these days," Modzelewski maintains. "Look at Warren Beatty, Ted Kennedy, Hugh Hefner, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson--they're all married."
"Plus now we get free airline tickets," volunteers Grecco.
Modzelewski beams at his bride. "Paula brought a magic carpet to this relationship."
So are Paula Grecco and Michael Modzelewski really the world's most romantic couple? Maybe. Maybe not.
But you've got to hand it to them. They're certainly made for each other.
RICH AGENCY, POOR AGENCY DHS PLAYS HIDE ... v9-16-92
