A pair of best friends from high school are celebrating the marriage of their son and daughter — who fell in love despite being raised hundreds of miles apart.
Madeline Cohen and Adam Rosenstein, tied the knot in Colorado on October 24, 26 years after they were born within weeks of one another, reports Their mothers, Ruth Cohen, 54, and Shery Rosenstein, 55, had plenty of visits over the years during which Madeline and Adam got to know each other — and eventually, as teens, the two began keeping in touch of their own, going to his senior prom and becoming a couple in college.
In 2008, Adam popped the question on a bench in San Francisco — the same one where he and Madeline had posed together as five-year-olds.
Madeline Cohen and Adam Rosenstein, both 26, met at four months old thanks to their mothers, who are best friends. They got married last month
Ruth and Shery attended high school together in California, where they became best friends.
Even as they moved to different parts of the country, they stayed close — and as fate would have it, they both ended up pregnant at the same time, with the same due date in June of 1995.
Having a shared birthday seems to be the only place where this story didn't align: Maddie arrived a month early, in Atlanta, and Adam wasn't born until July, in New York.
They were raised far apart, he in New York and she in Colorado, but met for the first time at four months old. They would go on to see each other occasionally in the following years.
Adam claims there was a connection early on, recalling a visit when they were eight. They had lunch and played mini gold, and Adam said he and Maddie had a great conversation.
As they grew older, they learned — through their mothers — that they had a lot in common and experienced similar things at the same time. For example, both would win awards in the same week or get strep throat at the same time.
Ruth Cohen, 54, and Shery Rosenstein, 55, met in high school and California and remained best friends for years
While living in different cities, they both learned they were pregnant and had the same due date in June 1995, though Ruth gave birth first (pictured left: Ruth, right: Shery)
But they didn't begin a friendship of their own until a family visit in New York at age 14, after which they stayed in touch.
'She was the friend I could talk to about everything — even the stuff I don't want to talk to her about,' Adam said. 'There was something about her that was so much the ideal and perfect woman in my eyes.'
When he was a senior, Adam asked Maddie to prom.
'Before I knew it, I was in New York dancing the night away with my best friend, and I realized my feelings for him were much more than friendship. As it turns out, he felt the same way,' Maddie told .
Adam also said he was excited to go to prom dress rental near me with his 'best friend,' and that night, they had their first kiss.
But they knew that having any sort of serious relationship wasn't 'practical' because they lived so far apart — and would stay that way when they went off to college, with him attending the University of Rochester in New York and her going to Drake University in Iowa.
Still, miles away, they kept in touch with long phone calls and soon realized it was love.
In high school the offspring became long-distanced friends, and Madeline went with Adam to prom
They began dating while attending different colleges and both moved to California upon graduation
'Finally, during our second years of college, we decided our feelings could withstand the distance and we officially started dating on October 13, 2014,' Maddie said.
'We both had an "it's-now-or-never" moment,' she added. 'We knew there would always be a million excuses not to have what we want, but we basically said, "Screw it, it's time to make this happen."
'The distance wasn't all bad — we got to travel the world together (he even visited me when I studied abroad in Italy!).'
The whole time, Madeline's mother Ruth insists that she and Shery weren't 'pushy.'
In 2017, they graduated from college and moved to California, where they lived 45 minutes apart.
Then, on October 13, 2014 — the fourth anniversary of their first date — Adam popped the question. He had the perfect spot in mind.
In 2018, Adam proposed on a bench in San Francisco - where they'd posed together as five-year-olds
'And so, the two moms who became best friends in high school got to celebrate their kids getting engaged over 30 years later,' Maddie said
'When we were five years old, our parents took us to a park in San Francisco and took a photo of us on a bench together,' he explained.
'Ever since we started dating, we'd talked about recreating the photo in the same spot, but no one could remember exactly where it was taken.'
He tracked it down on Google Street View and invited Maddie to recreate the photo.
'Just before we were going to ask someone to take the photo for us, he got down on one knee and asked me to spend forever with him. I said yes!' she said.
Both Adam and Maddie's parents had flown in to celebrate with them.
'And so, the two moms who became best friends in high school got to celebrate their kids getting engaged over 30 years later,' Maddie said.
Finally, last month, they had a 'big family reunion' and married in front of 85 guests
The couple had originally planned to say 'I do' in November of 2020, but their nuptials were pushed back a year because of the pandemic.
Finally, last month, they had a 'big family reunion' and married in front of 85 guests.
'We always considered one another's family our family, and now we really are,' Adam said
After honeymooning in New Mexico, they've come back to live in Colorado to be near Maddie's mom, who is undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma
'I really feel like we were made for each other,' Maddie said. 'There were so many things drawing us to each other, I feel so lucky.'