Bilotta says she had an inkling that Cawley would be the man for her when she told him, right after their reunion two years ago, about her baby daughter Amanda (who is now almost three years of age). "One of the first things he said to me was 'A baby? I love babies! I can't wait to have a baby! He's very family-oriented."
The two say their long-distance relationship has been stressful, but also beneficial at times. "When we were together, we would be together intensely. We never had any competition, as we would have if we were going to the same school," Cawley says. "At the same time, I think I needed someone."
Steven T. Flomenhoft '93 is another senior who knows about romance over the telephone wires. His wife, Debbie A. Auer '92, has been living in Kentucky for more than a year taking pre-med courses.
As he pursues a professional hockey career and she attends medical school in Kentucky during the next few years, the two will have to be apart frequently. It was the prospect of his fiancee having to deal with wedding plans all on her own, says Auer, that led them to elope to New Hampshire on March 15.
"It was on the spur of the moment," he says. "It was her spring break. Massachusetts requires a blood test, so the timing wouldn't have worked out."
Flomenhoft says his friends and family were surprised at the suddenness of his marriage, but not displeased. "They all were pretty happy. It's nice to have everyone come up and shake hands."
Some engagements were even more unexpected. Richard L. Levy '93 had lived ir, the same building as Sage C. Stossel '93, a former graphics editor for The Crimson, for almost four years, first in Wigglesworth and then in Cabot House. He had asked her to the CityStep Ball during their first year but was turned down, and "she basically spurned me for four years," he says.
While sitting at the Cabot Senior Dinner in early May, however, an inspiration came to Levy. He borrowed a ring from a friend stood up and proposed to Stossel in a toast, much to the amusement of the others at the dinner. Although Stossel was completely taken aback; he says, she accepted the proposal.
"I guess I just grew on her," Levy says. "We were never officially sort of going out. If I had let myself think I was serious before the last minute, I don't think I would have done it."
He says their engagement is still somewhat up in the air, but that they have talked considerably about getting married.
"I've had relationships at Harvard--I had a very difficult one, but it had nothing to do with this. Maybe it was good that I never had a relationship with her," Levy says.
Stossel says although the two were simply "very good friends for four years," they had talked about marriage before. "But I was not expecting it at the senior dinner," she says.