Half Moon Plumbing, a business based out of Owasso, debuted several new billboards across Green Country for Valentine’s Day. The photos and messages on them were submitted by people in the community as part of its “Love You To The Moon and Back” contest.
Half Moon Plumbing owner Dustin Mitchell said, “My wife actually came up with the idea and the response from the community was more than we expected; I think we had close to 300 people.”
Dee Dee Conley was one of 36 winners chosen. She shared a photo of her and her husband with the message, ‘Dewayne, I love you to the moon and back.’
However, it was the love story behind the couple that really caught the eye of the business.
Dee Dee and Dewayne both grew up in Salina and he was friends with her brother. The pair never dated and married other people, but re-connected after Dee Dee lost her husband to a heart attack.
“I knew I did not want to be alone for the rest of my life,” she said.
Although Dee Dee admits taking that first step was difficult. Dewayne remembers inviting her to a show he was playing in Salina. “I invited several people from Salina and she was one of them. She said ‘Oh yeah I will be there,'” he said, “I waited all night; she did not show up.”
That did not discourage him, Dewayne messaged Dee Dee a few days later to ask her out to dinner.
“I froze, I was like I do not know what to do, I do not know what to say, I have never done this before,” Dee Dee added. “He is the first person that has actually asked me on a date, so I waited until the next day and then I finally told him yeah I would go eat dinner with him and we just hit it off.”
Navigating dating while dealing with grief was new for both of them. Dewayne said, “I was scared to even ask her to go to dinner because I did not want it to be too soon, I did not want it to be too late, so I just said let’s go for it. If she says yes, she says yes, if she says no I will ask her again later.”
The way he made her laugh is what Dee Dee said brought her through to the other side. “I wanted to go crawl in a hole, but I have got kids, I have got grandkids, and I just want to be happy and he makes me happy,” she added.
So, when the opportunity came to show Dewayne how much she loves him, Dee Dee went big. “That was totally out of character for her to put us on a billboard,” said Dewayne. “That is something I would do.”
A grand gesture that they hope people look up and see and are reminded that it is never too late to find love.
“It can happen,” said Dee Dee. “So, if you get a chance, go for it. Life is too short.”
The billboards will be on display through Sunday, Feb. 16th. Half Moon Plumbing said it will do more contests like this again in the future.
