You can’t always help who you fall in love with, but it's OK to be cautious when it is the boy or girl next door. If something goes wrong, they will be right there. That was one adorable Jersey Shore couple’s thinking when they first started dating. Spoiler alert: Everything worked out for Alethea Roy and Paul Pawlowski.
Alethea and Paul kept their romance hidden when they first started dating. Their families owned neighboring motels on the Jersey Shore and were friendly with each other. Thankfully, everything worked out and the married couple now share an adorable 23-month-old daughter.
"We didn't want to create any bad blood on the block," Paul explained. "We took it step by step, so if things didn't work out, it wouldn't be scorched earth."
Thankfully “true love” won out according to Alethea.
Alethea’s mom, Melissa Roy, clarifies that this was not some Romeo and Juliet situation. There were no family feuds. "We were always good neighbors — and now we're family," she explained.
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Alethea’s great-grandmother founded the V.I.P (Vacation In Paradise) Family Motel in 1964 in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. Alethea spent her summers there even though she lived just 10 miles away. The Compass Family Resort is just next door on Atlantic Avenue. Paul’s family purchased it in 2001.
Paul became close with Alethea’s brother and dad. The two motels helped each other out when someone needed an extra hand. Sadly, Alethea’s grandmother passed away in 2007 when a tree fell on her in her backyard. This prompted Alethea to reach out to Paul, who had recently lost his uncle. The two grew close, navigating their grief.
"I really have no idea what came over me to reach out to him, but something just laid him on my mind and on my heart," Alethea recalled.
"We were both still grieving and trying to heal at the same time," Paul stated. "We had lots of long phone calls … She let me in, and I let her in."
When the motels opened up for the season, Paul and Alethea decided to go on their first date. They kept their relationship under wraps at first.
"We were trying to be very cautious, because we didn't want to jump into a relationship or really start dating quickly because we are neighbors and it could just get a little sticky," Alethea explained. "So we took it very slow."
It soon became apparent that this was the real thing. Their families were thrilled when they finally decided to share the news.
Paul proposed on Christmas Day 2016 at his aunt’s house in Warsaw, Poland. Alethea, of course, said yes. "It was literally something that you would see in a Hallmark movie," she recalled. They were married on December 29, 2018. Their daughter Julianna “Jules” Joanne was born September 10, 2021.
Jules will inherit both motels. She is growing up on the properties, just like her parents did before her. Alethea likes to think her grandma is looking down and smiling on them.
"I don't know if divine intervention was involved, if [my grandma] was involved, or if it's God that brought us together. But somehow, we were brought together and as more than just neighbors, more than just friends," she mused.
Regardless of how it happened, she is so thankful that she and Paul are together. "We're in love and we're always in awe. Our marriage, our relationship, it takes work. Of course, it does. It always does," Alethea stated. "But it's so worth the work. It is true love.”
