It all started back in 1983 in the Gaithersburg (Maryland) Hebrew Congregation sandbox. Neither Brian nor Robin remember it, but Brian’s three-year-old class and Robin’s four-year-old class must have spent some time together in there.
Fast forward 26 years later to September 16, 2009. After many failed attempts, Robin (TerpsFan01) was going to take the plunge and join JDate now that she had moved back to D.C. She had just started editing her profile again. Unlike Robin, Brian (NotJustAnotherJew) had much success on JDate with three one-year (or longer) relationships from it under his belt. He had been on the site and had done his browsing for the evening, but decided to check quickly to see if anyone else had logged on to the system since he had first logged on that night. He saw Robin and thought she was cute (“dinner-worthy”), and that her profile was creative so she probably wasn’t boring.
Robin got an Instant Message from Brian that started with, “Hey, there, Jewish lady” to which Robin responded, “How did you know that I’m Jewish?” A half hour later, they traded emails.
A week of progressively greater communication ensued with an email, then texting, and finally a phone call. During the call, Robin suggested several fun activities for Saturday for their first date. Brian said they should have a weekday date first so they didn’t waste any weekend time in case they didn’t like each other, but that if it went well, they’d have the Saturday date, too. Robin rejected Brian’s suggestion of Cheesecake Factory (little did she know how often they’d wind up there, and little did he know how indicative of her this protest was). Instead, Robin and Brian met at Levante’s in Bethesda (RIP) on Wednesday, September 23, 2009.
After deciding in her head at one point that “This date is OVER!” and at another point that Brian had escaped out the bathroom window of the restaurant, Brian managed to charm Robin as the date progressed. When she said, “I guess we should get going,” Brian said, “Ok, where are we going?” How could she say no to that? So the date continued on with a walk on the Capitol Crescent Trail where Brian insists that he saved her life from a “mountain cat.” Finally, the date ended with a kiss in the parking lot and a second date set up for Saturday.
About three years after becoming best friends and roommates, Brian surprised Robin while she was on a month-long business trip in Alaska by showing up at her hotel one late night at 1:00 AM! On August 15, 2012, they took a helicopter ride to the glaciers of Denali National Park. When they landed, Brian proposed! They were married in Washington, D.C., at the beautiful Carnegie Institution for Science on May 26, 2013 and now live in Rockville, MD.
Robin and Brian
Rockville, Maryland