Have you ever seen the movie Sliding Doors? Well, this story is just like that film with a little You’ve Got Mail flare.

Sarah is living in York, PA working for Steven’s alma mater, with an upcoming trip to New York to meet with some prospects. Last minute, one of the prospects cancels and Sarah needs to find a “filler visit”, stat. She doesn’t get too far down the list and sends a hail-mary email to Steven who is living in NYC asking if he is interested in becoming more involved in Franklin & Marshall’s programs. Steven knows that these programs aren’t looking for his operational expertise, and he’s in no position to make any significant contributions. His mouse is very literally hovering over the “Delete” button, ending the budding love-story before it even begins. He’s not a believer in fate, but the ever-present gravitational pull from Jupiter’s third moon which just so happens to be in retrograde, leads him to reply, “As a matter of fact, I am interested – let’s do this”, maybe not in those exact words.

If the prospect hadn’t cancelled, if the list hadn’t been alphabetical, and if Steven hadn’t been inspired by the cosmos, you wouldn’t be reading this long-winded story or planning a trip to Mexico for a glorious celebration of two love-birds.

They meet for the first time at Del Frisco’s, one of Steven’s favorite restaurants, and the conversation flows endlessly like the salmon of Capistrano. One drink turns to three and one hour turns to three when Sarah, realizing she’s actually already late to her next meeting, races out of the restaurant with only one sip out of her last drink and barely a goodbye.

Months later they see each other at a spring rooftop F&M fundraising event, and the banter picks up where it was abruptly halted earlier. Sarah is in the middle of her second pitch when they spot a concerning amount of smoke coming out of the kitchen. So, as all intelligent people do when they see smoke at the top of a super tall building, they bee-line it to the elevator along with a slew of other incredibly bright folk, and wedge their way onto the first elevator. Halfway down, you guessed it, the elevator jolts to a stop between floors. While mass panic ensues among the other sardines, Sarah stays calm, reaches into her purse and pulls out mini bottles of vodka and kids to Steven, “If we’re going to be here for a while, at least we have these!” This is the moment Steven realizes Sarah is a seriously cool cat. The elevator starts working again before the airplane bottles are opened, and the two part ways – but both know the other is their kind of person.

Over the next year, the two keep in touch. Email topics branch from sterile F&M events, to forwarding articles, and eventually just chatting about whatever. It is clear early on that Steven isn’t getting a campus library named after him, but Sarah still lets Steven know when she is coming to NYC for meetings, and Steven immediately rearranges anything and everything conflicting ahead of her arrival.

Friendship evolves to dating. But there is a slight 196-mile problem in this dating game. The cards are stacked against them. Sarah is settled in York with her two splendid children, and Steven, a stubborn, born-and-raised New Yorker, is trucking about in NYC never thinking of living outside his bubble. Then COVID hits. They do feel guilty that such an awful virus has such a profoundly wonderful impact on their lives, but those are just the facts. Both are working from home now, and Sarah accurately points out, “I am unable to move to you, and you have the perfect opportunity to move to me, so $#^! or get off the pot, buddy”, actually in those exact words.

The dyed-in-wool city-slicker packs up his 565sf studio apartment and moves from New York to “Old” York. And against every preconceived notion in his head, he is shocked by how much he enjoys the burbs. New York was great, for its time, but its time has worn thin. And in less time than it has taken to read this saga, the two join a country club, buy a house and get engaged. Some couples might do things in a different order, but this is their story and just how they roll. Sarah loves to tell people, “He told me he was coming for a weekend and now I can’t get him to leave.” Everyone, including Steven, just laughs and laughs and laughs.

And now, after a few short years of engagement, the couple self-dubbed the Whitklingski’s are ready to tie the knot. If you have made it this far into the story, you can make it physically as far as Mexico to help this ridiculously awesome couple make their relationship official to Uncle Sam. Without you, who are they, amirite??

Viva la Mexico!

S&S

Wedding Day

Reception