In front of his whole preschool class, three-year-old Matt Grodsky stepped up and said that he would one day marry Laura Scheel, a classmate. That was nearly 26 years ago.
When the two, who are both now 29 years old, first met, Grodsky was drawn to Scheel. They first met in a preschool in Phoenix, Arizona.
Grodsky’s preschoolers Laura and Matt frequently attempted to impress Scheel by reciting “The Lion King.” Play dates and movie outings are some of Grodsky and Scheel’s first recollections of one other (obviously with parent chaperones for the two little lovebirds).
Scheel shared Grodsky’s infatuation, as did the latter.
He said, and he did as he said, “When you like someone, you simply kind of get up and say it.”He told his 3- and 4-year-old friends that he loved Scheel, and they all laughed. What was Grodsky’s reply? Just be patient.
Laura and Matt at the pool
Grodsky and Scheel had play dates all the time when they were in preschool. “Right after we graduated from high school, we were pretty hesitant. We were like, ‘Do we stay together? Do we try to make it work?'” Scheel explained.
They made it work. Scheel went to Northern Arizona University, while Grodsky went to Columbia College Chicago, more than 1,600 miles away. It wasn’t easy, but after some trial and error freshman year, they got a system down, figuring out a schedule for when they would visit each other and watching “Friends” on Netflix together when they were apart.
Grodsky didn’t wait until they finished college to pop the question. On May 23, 2015, as the couple prepared to start their senior year, he brought her back to the place where it all began: their preschool.
Laura and Matt
Grodsky knew early on that he would marry Scheel one day.
It ended up taking quite a bit of waiting. The young couple went to two different elementary schools and lost touch, only watching each other grow up through the annual Christmas cards the two families would send to one another.
Then in the fall of their freshman year of high school, once again at two different schools, Scheel was looking through a friend’s phone and saw Grodsky’s name.
It turns out Scheel’s friend had gone to middle school with Grodsky, and when the friend found out that they had been quite the item in preschool, she offered to reconnect them.
“I was a freshman in high school so I was like, ‘I don’t think so!'” Scheel said. “But then she ended up giving him my number and he texted me and we hit it off ever since.”
Two weeks later, Scheel and Grodsky were dating. Four years and 15 school dances (their high school dances combined) later, it was time for college – again at two separate schools, but this time in two separate states.
Laura and Matt got engaged
Scheel did not see it coming when Grodsky got down on one knee. Grodsky had bought an engagement ring two months before this day and had already received her dad’s blessing.
He had even stationed his brother at the school before their arrival so he could position himself in the perfect location to capture a photo of the moment.
On the way there, Grodsky repeatedly checked his pockets for the ring. When they arrived, he got down on one knee.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this happening?'” Scheel said. “I saw the ring and was like, “This is gorgeous. I’m so happy with it.'”
The answer – a resounding yes! And Grodsky’s brother brought out a picnic basket (the very same one that Grodsky’s dad used when he proposed to his mom) full of bridal magazines and sparkling cider, then bowed out to give the newly-engaged couple a private picnic to celebrate.
Matt and Laura get married
Finally, after 20 years, the pair exchanged vows.
They exchanged vows on December 30, 2016, the day they met in preschool.
The best way to express it was how Grodsky’s uncle, who performed the marriage ceremony, phrased it: “For other preschoolers, it’s about finding your food and your sleeping mats, but for them it was about discovering your soulmates.”
