JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- When five dozen roses didn't work, an estranged husband took out a full-page newspaper ad to ask his wife for forgiveness.
"Please believe the words in my letter, they are true and from my heart," read the ad in Tuesday's edition of The Florida Times-Union. "I can only hope you will give me the chance to prove my unending love for you. Life without you is empty and meaningless."
Larry, who declined to give his last name, sent the $17,000 apology to Marianne, his wife of 17 years. She left him almost two weeks ago, he said.
"It was a culmination of things," he told the newspaper. "But I am desperately trying to save our marriage."
Larry, who lives in Orlando, said his wife is staying with her parents near Jacksonville. But they blocked him from entering their gated community and she changed her cell phone number so he can't contact her.
A relative told him that Marianne saw the advertisement.
"She said my wife read the ad and started crying. But so far I've had no response from her," Larry said.
But the ad drew the attention of many other readers, who contacted the paper.
"They want to know if she has responded and if they have worked things out," said Jay Weimar, director of display advertising. "We tell them we are pulling for him." :cry: :| :(