Lowell Friedman
and Jennifer
Lerner

CARL WALDMAN

Special to the Jewish News

I

n preparation for popping the
big question, Lowell Friedman
told his girlfriend Jennifer
Lerner more than a fair share of
little white lies. Nothing he did or said
led her to believe that there was a ring
in that little white box.
In an effort to devise a novel pro-
posal with his three key elements —
family, Shabbat and surprise — the
28-year-old associate with the law firm
of Frimet and Rogalski, P.C., in
Southfield had no choice but to bring
both families into his scheme.
Since the couple met 2'/2 years ago,
Lowell and Jennifer have made it a
weekly tradition to enjoy Shabbat din-
ner with one of their families. Plotting
with Lowell, their parents, Lawrence
Lemer and Sandra Lerner, and Susan
and Melvyn Friedman, casually started
dropping hints to Jennifer that they all

would be out of town, for one reason or
another, on Friday, Feb. 26, 1999.
As Lowell expected, Jennifer took the
bait. The 25-year-old psychologist for
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools said,
"Let me make Shabbat dinner. It will be
our first one alone."
Jennifer recalled, "The Thursday
night before he asked me to marry
him, I asked him to come to a chal-
la-baking demonstration led by chef
Syril Victor, which I read about in
the Jewish News," said Jennifer.
"Lowell gave me a hard time, to
throw me off, but secretly he was
thrilled to have a home-baked challa
for our special night."
Showing up at Jennifer's Royal Oak
apartment with two white bakery boxes
— one small and one big — Lowell
casually placed them in the corner.
"She thought they were sprinkle
cookies and chocolate babka, like usual,"
said Lowell. "The brown bag even had
the prices marked on it."

After dinner, Lowell gave Jennifer
the choice of which box to open
first. When she picked up the small-
er one, as Lowell knew she would,
Jennifer realized something was dif-
ferent. "Lowell, what is this?" she
asked. She started to cry as her trem-
bling hands opened the sprinkle
cookie box to reveal an engagement
ring wrapped in tissue.
After the initial shock, Jennifer
exclaimed, "But our parents aren't
here." Lowell had a response for that
one, too. "I wanted this night for us
to be alone," he said. Then he asked
her to find a scarf, a pair of socks and
a baseball cap. A confused Jennifer did
as she was asked, and through her
tears said, "I love you, Lowell, but
where are we going?" In-line skating is
all that she could figure.
Pulling into his parents' driveway,
Lowell told Jennifer he needed to pick
up something. But inside the door
were 20 family members, including all

of their parents and siblings. Lowell
had arranged to have his sister Cindy,
who lives in New York, and brother
Jeff, who lives in Chicago, come in for
the surprise, along with Jennifer's
Bubbie Rose from Florida.
With emotions on overload, the
celebration grew throughout the
night. Some 20 of their friends
stopped by to congratulate them.
The last ring of the doorbell was
Jennifer's best friend, Michal
Dorfman, who Lowell also arranged
to have fly in from Chicago. Like .
the giddy little girls they once were,
they fled upstairs to kvell and cry in
the bathroom:
In essence, they threw themselves
their own engagement party. "I can't
believe how dense I was," says Jennifer.
"Lowell did an amazing job."
The excited couple recently
bought a home in north Oak Park,
which they will move into after their
June 18 wedding. ❑

3/10
200

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