Brandy Higgins and Eric Cohen’s love story sounds like a romantic comedy, including fights, a breakup, reconciliation and a fairy-tale proposal.
Meet: Higgins and Cohen once worked together but never talked. She worked in administration. He slinked around in sweat pants, concerned more with computers than appearances. “I think I asked him once if he wanted coffee or something,” she says.
When they met up again in May 2001 through a mutual friend, Cohen wasn’t dressed in workout clothes, catching Higgins by surprise. “You turned out to be quite the man,” she told him.
Cohen took it as a compliment and asked for her phone number.
Match: They met for coffee. “We’re both kind of coffee junkies,” says Cohen.
Fueled by caffeine, the date lasted 18 hours. They laughed so much that Higgins ran an astrology chart. “It said something to the effect that we are a match,” she says.
“She’s a Pisces. I’m an Aquarius,” Cohen says. “I think it said something like you’ll get along if you don’t kill each other first.”
Either way, it was enough for Higgins to end a 4 1/2-year relationship that “just needed a final push.”
Yet, over time, Higgins learned she wasn’t Cohen’s type – tall, smart, athletic. “I’m smart, but I’m not tall and not athletic-looking,” she says. She also walked away from conflict, while Cohen clearly needed a woman to “get in the ring” with him intellectually and emotionally.
Unfortunately, a woman at Cohen’s work seemed to fit the criteria better. “So, I was like, ‘Go date her,”‘ Higgins says of their breakup in January 2002.
She returned to college and became a resident adviser at CU-Boulder, where she learned confrontation and communication skills.
During what Cohen calls their “seven-
month sabbatical,” he stopped being “so dependent” on verbal sparring. He says he never doubted they would get back together because his mother always told him that he would “just know” about such things.
“I knew it was the right thing,” Cohen says.
Marry: In theatrical style, Cohen bought bride and groom Mickey and Minnie hats during a trip to Disney World in late 2003. Playing along, Higgins happily donned her hat and skipped with Cohen toward Cinderella’s castle. She didn’t see the proposal coming. In shock, Higgins asked: “Are you serious?” Throngs of nearby tourists stopped cold, in total silence, watching Cohen kneeling.
“No one did anything until he got up, then everyone cheered,” Cohen’s mother, Anne, recalls.
They married in a light rain. Local musician Wendy Woo played “Angels Laughing” and “Hold On” while the couple walked in to the ceremony.
The Rev. Carrie MaKenna pointed out the storm references in the blessings chosen by the couple – “may rains fall softly,” and “now you will feel no rain” – which made guests, huddled under umbrellas, chuckle.
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