It seems everyone is lookin’ for a little lovin’ at Columbia these days. People also do a lot of whining at this school that they’ll never find love. Bwog is here to prove those people kind-of-wrong! Believe it or not, people find their life long mates here! Even Hawkma rides the wings of love. In this installment of Columbia Sweethearts, meet Laura Spitzer BC ’83 and Steven Rubenstein, CC ’83. Happily married for 25 years and living in LA, this couple proves that CU loving lasts for ever. Here’s the kicker: Bwogger Carly Silver, BC ’12, is dating the Sweethearts’ son, Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, CC ’12. Columbia Sweethearts Generation 2 perhaps?

Bwog: How did you meet?

Steven: So, the first time we met, we had a mutual friend who introduced us. At the time, Columbia was pretty much all male and, at the student activities center, which used to be Ferris Booth Hall, there were very few bathrooms for women. And so my friend was outside the bathroom guarding the door because Laura was inside.

Laura: Yup.

S: As I was passing the bathroom, I saw my good friend stationed outside and she said, “My friend Laura’s inside.” So I poked my head into the bathroom and said, “Hi, Laura!”

L: I should have known then.

S: She came out very embarrassed.

Bwog: Had someone planned on setting you up?

L: It was because of that. So Steven had seen me or whatever…[we] saw each other with Carolyn [mutual friend] and we asked to meet each other. So Thursday she was going to have us over, but, then, we met before because Sunday night there was a UJA dance.

S: It was like a federation.

L: United Jewish Appeal. That was like the Jewish student fair. So, we both went and then we started talking.

Bwog: What kinds of things do you do together?

L: Hiking and swimming.

S: We walk.

L: Cooking. But he doesn’t cook anymore.

S: I cook sometimes.

L: Sometimes.

S: We don’t have a lot of limes yet [from their “mojito tree”], but I do the bartending and Laura does most of the daily cooking, just because I have two jobs.

Bwog: After you got married and had kids, did you ever figure that at least one of your kids would end up going to Columbia, or did it just sort of happen?

L: It just happened. I mean, we had always, whenever we were in New York, gone back and walked around campus and things like that. Columbia has always felt like a part of our family culture, but it didn’t occur to me explicitly that one of our children might go.

S: We love to sit on the steps. I have very fond memories of sitting on the steps in the springtime.

L: Being on Furnald lawn.

S: Right, yeah. Furnald used to be the cool dorm, by the way…

L: We like to walk on the West Side on Broadway in Riverside Park. I always think of that as part of Columbia, even though it’s not really.

S: We don’t really visit Butler. But it’s just fun to soak up the whole Columbia vibe.