To mark this romantic month, we are sharing stories of love that blossomed out of study abroad experiences at Syracuse’s Villa Rossa in Florence. This is the first in the series.
By Cheryl Bakos
We first crossed paths in Syracuse on the night of the 1987 NCAA championship—a moment charged with excitement, though neither of us yet knew what the future had in store. Scott was the cute boy my best friend had her eye on, and at the time, that was all he was to me: a passing character in a crowded scene.
It wasn’t until the fall semester of 1989 in Florence that our story truly began. At Villa Rossa, we shared the “B” mailbox (for Bacher and Bakos) and in those small moments collecting our mail we started to know each other better. I remember thinking it was so sweet that Scott always received letters from his older sister, until I learned she was lovingly torturing him with photos of his grandmother’s irresistible cooking.
Fast-forward to New York City, fall of 1992. We hadn’t seen each other since Florence, but the universe clearly wasn’t finished with us. On the corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street, fate stepped in with a perfectly timed re-meet-cute, placing us back in each other’s lives once again – this time living just two blocks apart.
Even then, love took its time. Caught up in first jobs and long hours, it wasn’t until February of 1993 that we finally shared our first kiss. And from there, everything fell into place.
Thirty-nine years from our first meeting, thirty-two years from our first date, and nearly twenty-eight years of marriage later, our love story is still unfolding. We’ve built a life filled with laughter, raised two wonderful sons, and now call Florida home. Yet Florence will always hold a piece of our hearts—and returning there in 2023 to celebrate our 25th anniversary felt like coming full circle, back to where our forever truly began. We already dream of the day we wander those streets together again.