A Brit is engaged to a woman he travelled 4,000 miles to meet — after she liked a photo of him holding a cat on a Facebook group for chubby cats.
Adam Lawrence, 29, and Anna Hosey, 26, connected in October 2019 after Adam posted a photograph of himself holding a friend’s cat in the This Cat Is Chonky group.
He messaged Anna after she called him “cute” in the comments – and just two months later after a flurry of calls and messages, he flew to America to meet her.
They have dated long-distance ever since, and when Adam’s next visit to the states got cancelled due to the pandemic, hairdresser Anna flew to London in July 2020.
She moved in with Adam for lockdown and Adam proposed so now these two smitten kittens are happily engaged just one year after their chance encounter.
Graphic designer Adam said: “I knew Anna was leaving and I wanted our relationship to carry on so I just decided to propose.
“My friends and family all love her.
“I don’t usually date. I haven’t had that many relationships so when everyone met Anna, they all said wow she’s amazing, you guys have to try and make it work.
“We had spoken about getting married a couple of times but hadn’t really reached a decision.
“I was originally planning to do it on London Bridge but I remembered Anna said she didn’t want it to be in a busy place so I waited til the next day.
“We’d had a nice day out in Camden and I just proposed in my room and she said yes!”
Anna, from Chicago, said: “I wasn’t completely surprised – we knew we were both so on board with the idea of getting married, we had discussed it a bunch of times and knew we both wanted to just be married.
“When it happened, it was more of a sense of excitement for the direction that our future is going to be going officially. It felt more like affirming what we wanted.
“I love my ring, it’s dainty and more simple which is what I’d always wanted so it’s absolutely perfect.
“Our friends and family could not be more excited, we’re still getting cards in the mail! Everybody has been ridiculously excited for us, I had a few friends of mine call me crying.”
Adam added: “Yeah my mum cried when we rang, she was so happy for us.”
Their relationship story started in October 2019 when Adam posted a photograph of himself holding a friend’s cat in the ‘THIS CAT IS CHONKY’ Facebook group.
Scrolling past, Anna couldn’t help but comment to say how cute she thought Adam was and he decided to return the favour the next day through a private message.
Anna said: “I was scrolling by and I thought ‘oh he’s so cute’ so I decided to comment that.
“The next day, he sent me a private message saying that he thought I was super cute as well and that we’d have to meet up if he was ever in the States.
“We ended up just chatting non stop since then.
“Our first phonecall was a five hour call – we were just sharing similar interests and they were all just so spot on to one another.
“We are both very passionate about music so we were sending music to each other back and forth and we had deep meaningful conversations.
“From that conversation on, I remember going to my friends and saying I don’t know why, I don’t know this guy but I feel like I’m going to marry him!”
Adam flew to the States just two months later to meet Anna for the first time, spending a week getting to know each other before returning to London.
Two months after that, Anna flew to London and got on like a house on fire with Adam’s friends and family.
Anna said: “At first, everybody was surprised but not that surprised! My friends said that is totally something that would happen to you!
“I’m not somebody who really dates and when my friends met Adam, they said he was amazing for me, he’s hilarious and they could see how much he made me laugh.”
Adam was due to fly back to the States in May but after the pandemic cancelled his flights, the couple were crushed.
As soon as the UK borders opened again, Anna took the plunge and flew to London to live with Adam for lockdown and has been here ever since.
Adam said: “We’ve both been showing each other new music and watching lots of films, it’s just gone really well.
Anna said: “I’ve been at Adam’s place since July and it’s been so good.
“We’re basically just in a room but it’s been so much fun!
“He’s shown me so many movies and TV shows that I’d never typically see and we’ve done so much exploring of London as well as hiking in Edinburgh and visiting Liverpool.”
The happily engaged pair are looking forward to the future and hope to get married next year in London with Anna looking to eventually move to the UK full time.
She said: “The wedding we have been chatting about right now will be in England so I can give my friends and family an excuse to travel abroad.
“I think we’ll end up in London here – I come from a really small town in the states, so being in London has been the first time that I’ve felt like I belong somewhere so it’d only be right for everyone to come see the space that helped me grow into who I am.
“We’re both so excited for my cat Kidden to come over as well!”
Adam added: “I loved meeting Kidden when I visited Anna in America so I’m really looking forward to seeing her again as well.”