Each date was a reminder of how much he loved her, how quickly the years had slipped away, turning his little princess into this wonder of a woman.
It wasn't that Steve Gubelman hadn't been paying attention to Laura, he had.
Besides his wife Jayne, she was the most important woman in his life. They'd had a standing birthday date since, well, she was just three and he took her for the first time to get her hair and nails done.
Every year, that was his gift, Jayne said recently.
And so when the Marietta father learned Bobby Seifter intended to ask for Laura's hand in marriage, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness.
"I knew my time as her number one guy was ending," he said.
Gubelman made a promise to himself – he'd use the year leading up to her July 12 nuptials to take her on a monthly date.
He and Jayne had grown to love Bobby. Indeed his intentions toward Laura weren't much of surprise.
They could hear it in his voice the day he called. He wanted to come over and talk.
"I just had a feeling," Jayne said.
If they were right, Steve Gubelman wanted to be ready. He headed to a nearby Wendy's to have some alone time to think. He had a lot of questions for Bobby and wanted to make sure he didn't forget anything.
Read the entire story in Tuesday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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