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 3 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 No. 1 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.
What do you like about Laura?
What do you dislike about her?
What’s your five-year financial plan, he scribbled on a yellow legal pad.
Gubelman was pretty sure he knew his daughter’s personality flaws. Did Bobby? And could he love her anyway?
Bobby was an Atlanta transplant from Florida, where he’d graduated in 2011 from Florida State. Laura had graduated, too, that year from Clemson. She and Bobby met during the summer while participating in the nonprofit Teach for America.
They clicked the moment they met, and before long they could feel the pull on their heartstrings. For the entire length of the summerlong boot camp, they were a team, teaching together at Atlanta Public School’s Thomasville Heights Elementary.
Laura liked that Bobby was a hard worker, that he was dedicated to helping his students excel. His sense of humor made the otherwise taxing days less so.
They fought the urge to get emotionally involved until the summer was over.
“That wasn’t why we were there,” Laura said. “We didn’t want it to become the focus of our experience.”
At summer’s end, they were placed in teaching jobs in Gwinnett County as part of a two-year agreement — Laura at Beaver Ridge Elementary and Bobby at Rockbridge Elementary.
By July 2011, they were officially a couple. Bobby knew fairly quickly he wanted Laura to be his bride.
He needed her parents’ permission first.
The Gubelmans were en route home from Lake Hartwell when Bobby called.
It was a habit of Jayne’s to throw food into the mix and because she was pretty sure Bobby would be nervous, she served up hot plates of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, her idea of comfort food.
While she cooked, Steve and Bobby talked. For Bobby, by then a law student at the University of Georgia, it was more like a cross-examination.
“Steve was actually writing down his answers,” Jayne said, laughing.
When it was over, Gubelman was satisfied.
“We couldn’t think of one reason why he shouldn’t marry her,” he said.
That was in January 2013. On March 30, Bobby lured Laura to Piedmont Park with the promise of a picnic. There he led her up to a pavilion, where he had left pictures of the two of them from past dates. He read a note to her he’d penned in the cover of “Caps for Sale,” a children’s book they’d done lessons on during that fateful summer with Teach for America.
Then as his friends snapped pictures from behind an azalea bush, Bobby got down on one knee and popped the question.
Will you marry me?
Yes, Laura answered.
It was time for Gubelman to make good on the promise he’d made to himself.
The first date was Jayne’s idea. Laura loves to cook, so her dad signed them up for a vegetarian cooking class.
While Laura cooked, Gubelman drank glasses of wine.
“It was fun,” he said.
“He can fill pots with water,” Laura said.
For their next date, Gubelman bought tickets to an upcoming John Mayer concert and went about tracking down the musician’s manager. He wanted to know if they could do a shoutout to Laura. Touched by Gubelman’s promise, the manager said he could do even better. He invited them back to meet Mayer.
As the months flew by, Gubelman’s only challenge was to top the previous date.
They went on a shopping spree. They enjoyed a spa day, albeit in different rooms. Several times, they brought along the entire family. May was dedicated to Gubelman’s son Stephen, who married his bride Amanda.
They visited Harrah’s Casino, where Laura turned a $1 into $900, and Disney. When it was over, Gubelman gave Laura a book, “Dates With Dad: 12 Months, 12 Dates, 1 Love,” commemorating their time together.
Just days before her wedding Saturday, the two of them remembered those moments as Jayne looked on, supplying forgotten details.
“He has set the bar high for her entire life,” Jayne said of Laura’s dad. “Bobby not only met the bar, he exceeds it.”
Which explains Steve Gubelman’s tears Saturday when he gave his daughter away at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta.
“I’m happy for Laura,” he said.
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