George and I met in high school during my junior year at volleyball practice. He was there as a manager because he was catching rides to and from school with his friend Josh's girlfriend Joanna (who was on the volleyball team). Injury-laden as I was, there were many days where I would sit on the sidelines during warm-ups icing my knees and shins. It was during this time that George and I had time to get to know each other.
Near the end of the season, and nearing the time of the Junior/Senior Prom, I gussied up the nerve to ask George to the prom, in front of the entire Varsity volleyball team. I believe it went something like this:
Stefanie: (screaming across the gym as George is almost out the door) "Hey George! Are you going to the prom?"
George: "I don't know."
Stefanie: "Do you have a date?"
George: "No, not yet."
Stefanie: "Want to be mine?"
George: "Yeah, that'd be great."
Stefanie: "Okay, I'll talk to you later."
George: "Okay, bye"
Stefanie: "Bye"
Feeling guilty for asking him in front of my whole team and feeling like I pinned him into a small corner where the only way out was a yes answer, I called him later that night and told him if he didn't want to go with me, that was fine and I was sorry for screaming the whole thing across the gym. He told me he would love to be my date and he couldn't wait. We've been dang near inseparable from that point on.
The first time I met Stefanie was the end of my junior year in high school. I worked with Stefanie's sister Linda at Wyckoff Country Club and happened to see her in the hallway after school. I stopped to say hi and Linda introduced me to Stefanie. First impressions on Stef: "pretty cute girl, somebody I might like to know a little better."
My buddy Josh and I were managers for the girls volleyball team so we got to spend a ton of time with them. Stef always seemed to be injured. Luckily for us, the more she was injured...the more we got to talk. About 2 months passed without any talk of a date or anything but we were definitely getting closer.
It was getting near prom time and talk around school was that Stefanie was going to ask me to go with her. I waited all day and all volleyball practice and still there was no word from Stef about it. Josh and I had to leave before practice was over so we got our stuff and walked all the way to the other side of the gym when a loud scream interrupted the end of practice and brought the whole gym to a screaching halt. "George! Do you have a date for the prom? Do you want to go with me?" Stef finally asked me to the prom across the gym in front of all the girls on the volleyball team. She called me later that night to apologize and make sure I actually wanted go with her and wasn't forced into it. Of course I really wanted to go with her and we had a hell of a time that night and we've never looked back. It's been an amazing seven years and I can't wait for the next seventy!
