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SHANA & ROTEM

Stu dio Zo ha r

Shana Subelsky Tibi, 35, of West
Bloomfield moved to California for
her master's in social work. While
working at Children and Family Ser-
vices after graduating, she was doing
a home visit and accidentally locked
her keys in her car.
Rotem Tibi, 30, relocated from
Moshav Lappidot, a tiny little north-
ern town in Israel, to California. He
didn't know any English, but he had
a desire to work hard, make money
and live the American dream.
"He tried every job imaginable —
from being an ice cream man, to an
18-wheeler truck driver, to a lock-
smith," Shana says. Fortunately, he
ended up owning his own locksmith
company.
After locking her keys in her car,
Shana dialed 411 and asked for "any
locksmith in the area."
They connected her to Rotem.
With a lot of urging by the mother
of the home Shana was visiting, the
two agreed to meet for lunch, and
they have been together ever since.
Six months later, Rotem invited
Shana to Israel to meet his family. "I
met all of his family members, and
he has hundreds of cousins:'
His grandmother told Shana that
they were going to get married.
After leaving Israel, the two
traveled to Florida to see Shana's
parents. Her mother gave Rotem
Shana's grandmother's anniversary
ring to give to her.
Shana and
On the flight
Rotem Tibi at
home, much to
their wedding
Shana's surprise,
the flight atten-
dants began bringing trays of fruit
and cheese, a bottle of wine and two
wine glasses.
Rotem proposed to Shana with
her grandmother's ring, telling her
that he always wanted them to be
that "elevated" for the rest of their
lives.
They announced their engage-
ment over the loud speaker, and the
whole plane started clapping.
"I had a bunch of different ideas
in mind how I was going to pro-
pose," Rotem explains, "but as soon
as we sat down on the plane, I
thought to myself, 'This is the per-
fect place: It was so spontaneous; I
knew she would be surprisedf
They got married on June 23,
2010, in Nahariya, Israel. They have
a son, Adir, who is 19 months old,
and they have twins on the way.

42 February 2013 I

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ltr,D TIMED

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