How One Video Changed a CNY Woman's Life

You may recall our recent story about the video of the Snowy Owl floating on the ice floe in Lake Ontario. The woman from Sandy Creek who posted the video will never forget.

Betsy Waterman (taking a snapshot above) says her life changed as a result of the unique and compelling view of the owl that she and her friend Gary Canfield captured. Canfield shot the footage, Waterman uploaded it to her YouTube account, and her quiet Sandy Creek existence turned upside down.

Requests for the Snowy Owl video came pouring in from major networks and newspapers. She and Canfield were inundated with phone calls. Then, Waterman said:

...the friend requests and messenger messages started to come in in overwhelming numbers to my Facebook page, and to Gary’s. My Messenger was filled with friendly people waving to me, people thanking me for posting the video, a number of messages telling me how beautiful I was!!! (I’m 71 and really just not that beautiful), and, hold on here, two marriage proposals.

Credit: Betsy Waterman

It's not evident from her Facebook post whether or not she accepted, but she did make it clear she said Yes to a proposal from ViralHog, a company that distributes content to major news outlets around the world. And National Geographic signed on to license the video.

So, she's had more than her proverbial 15 minutes of fame and wanted to say thank you to everyone for "watching this little owl and embracing her."