Real-Life Sleepless in Seattle

Feb. 12, 2008 — -- When Sgt. Jim Schultz married his fiancée Carole March 15, it culminated the work of Jannah Medvec, who had worked so hard to make the soldier feel loved.

Jim, who had returned home just weeks before from a tour in Iraq as single soldier, became a married man with an instant family of his own. It was what he'd longed for during those seemingly endless desert days.

A simple letter ignited his love affair, but the correspondence was not between Jim and Carole. It was Carole's then 6-year-old daughter, Jannah, who wrote a pen-pal letter to Jim while he was stationed in Iraq.

"Hi. You are in Iraq. I want to thank you. You are brave," the young girl wrote. Jannah's church assigned her Schultz in a pen-pal exchange with soldiers.

When Jim received the letter he was mechanic on his second tour of duty and working 30-hour shifts. Even among his fellow soldiers, Jim felt alone.

"I see all the other guys, wife sending them pictures," he said. "You know, when I first got there, there was none of that."

So the 47-year-old welcomed a letter stamped New Wilmington, Pa., which was close to his hometown. It was Jannah's letter.

"Thank you for writing me. Being a soldier, you have to be brave. You have to be strong. There's times you have to leave your family," Jim wrote to Jannah.

Soon, Jannah enlisted her siblings to write to Jim. Before long, Carole noticed how her family was connecting with him and also began writing the soldier.

"[The] next thing you know, here comes another letter. 'Hi, I'm Carol.' And I just started getting interested."

The letters segued into telephone conversations and almost immediately Jim and Carole made a connection. It seemed as if they were long-lost friends.

"He would call every day," Carole said. "He would always call right when he said he would."

The transcontinental courtship was void of the typical mundane dating details.

"We didn't have to worry about what restaurant are we going to? What are we going to wear? How will I do my hair?" Carole said.